Marcon II (1967) was also organized by Dannie, and held in the same place in Toledo. This time it was a celebration of Roger Zelazny's two Nebulae and Hugo Award in 1965 and 1966. About 60 fen finally arrived and the committee hadn't thought of where to hold the party. Since Bob Hillis and I had a suite, we rapidly became part of the committee (possession being 90% and all that). Roger Zelazny donated $60 to fund that party (the early arrivals having consumed all the stock they had brought with them before anyone else got there) and Bob and I took off through darkest Toledo to find a source of beverages. We got the party rolling, and then decided that we would see what we could do to repay Roger. Earlyish on Saturday, Bob grabbed the first familiar face he saw and said "Collect a dollar from anyone who looks like they are here for Marcon." The fan, a total neo, took Bob's command at face value, deputized a couple of friends, and hit up all and sundry (including Roger). We took in $60, amazingly enough, which is where the attendance count comes from, and Marcon II broke even. Marcon II had nothing except programming - no art show, no dealers room, no films, no banquet, no masquerade; just panels during the day and parties at night. About halfway through Saturday night, Dannie, Howard DeVore, Bob, myself, and a couple of other fans met in Dannie's room to discuss the future of Marcon, since it looked like it was going to be successful enough to merit repeating a time or two. No fans really lived in Toledo, Detroit was having problems of some sort, Cleveland didn't want to bother; the fans from Columbus were young, eager, and wanted the convention. So it was decided that Marcon III would move downstate to test the waters and see if it would survive. Twenty-three years would see to provide an affirmative answer!

Marcon III (1968) was the first of five we would hold at the Holiday Inn East in Columbus. Marcon was still small enough to fit into one minor meeting room, but we did begin our tradition of expanding the con by putting six tables for dealers across the back of the room. That turned out to be convenient and popular for a small con, since no one had to miss anything and the noise level was fairly low. We also had the first of several "remote" banquets - there was this smorgasbord place about a mile down the road that gave us a private room and all we could eat for 44 a head. Other than the deals' area, Marcon offered only programming and parties; after all, it had worked fine the last time, and we didn't know any better. Frederick Pohl was the Guest of Honor, membership had grown to about 85.

Marcon IV (1969) had Terry Carr as Guest of Honor. He refused to fly (anywhere), so Bob and I had to go and collect him at old Union Station (now the site of the Ohio Center). We tried our first art show when Morris Scott Dollens of Los Angeles wrote to ask if he could send some of his paintings to be auctioned. The auction went all right, but then the idea lapsed until it was permanently restarted by mark Evans and Liz Gross at Marcon X. We also initiated our first film program - Bob Hillis borrowed a well-worn B&H 16mm projector from hi school and we put together a program from the public library and a local rental house. A Cincinnati fan named Mike Lalor volunteered to run the movies; he was somewhat annoyed when he found that the rest of the committee had gone off to dinner without telling him that the films were the only thing running. Mike had a valid point, and I've apologized about it before, but no harm came of it; we learned the lessons of communications, though, and have tried not to forget it all the years since. Attendance had grown to about 100.

Marcon V (1970) sticks in my memory as the first one in May. The Holiday Inn had screwed up the bookings. After suitable threats, the Holiday finally put V into the dinning room (yep - they closed their restaurant for the weekend). We picked Derby weekend by sheer ignorance, and this caused a fair number of attendees to spend Saturday in the bar (where they probably would have been anyhow) watching the horses on a large screen TV. The various Marcon committees have since tried to avoid holiday (or major event) weekends. Approximately 105 members came to see Guest of Honor Gordon R. Dickson.

Marcon VI (1971) was an experiment: we decided to hold a convention downtown for the first time. The Sheraton had been pleading for our business, so we thought we'd see what would happen. We had not planned on sharing the hotel with the Future secretaries of Ohio; I leave it to your imagination to resolve 120 fan (and we were a lot more boorish in those days), mostly young males, and about 300 nubile high-school girls. There weren't any real incidents, but the chaperones for the girls had several things to say to the Sheraton management. Marcon got rather lost in the Sheraton since it had 21 floors and we were scattered over half of them, blocking orders to the contrary. Other than fandom losing what few members it had, it was fun. Everyone but the hotel (and possibly the girls) had a great weekend, so long as they didn't venture forth from the hotel. Downtown Columbus suffered from a severe lack of places to eat at the times fans consider reasonable, such as 3am for dinner and high noon for breakfast. There was a largish bit of grousing at the lack of eateries, but all of us survived without noticeable diminution of the waistlines. Lester Del Rey was the Guest of Honor. The convention consisted of 5 panels, a dealers room, a con suite, a banquet, and a movie room. "King Kong" was one of the features.

Marcon VII (1972) went back to the Holiday Inn East. They had changed management in the past year and promised that we would have an excellent con. They were right; we did even though the smorgasbord had closed in the meantime. I can still remember doing the collation of the program Book on Friday night while the rest of the committee was setting up the party and registering members. Roger Zelazny was Guest of Honor again, and we had about 150 attendees.

Marcon VIII (1973) was moved to the Christopher Inn in hopes that we would fit better in a smaller facility. None of the committee paid any particular attention to the fact that the hotel was round, but the attendees noted this in a hurry. I've never heard so many variations on "and what flavor of pie are you staying in?" in my life. John Ayotte, who attended Marcon II with Bob and I, came back from serving in Germany with the Army and joined Hillis and I as co-chair. We were still small enough so that three men effectively ran most of the pre-con planning and organization; I don't suppose the actual operating committee during the con ever topped ten members. Anne McCaffrey was a real doll, and the weekend passed with no other memories rubbing off. Anne had only one Pern book in print at this time. Approximately 100 people came.

Marcon XI (1974) was the last of the relatively small Marcons (about 170 attendees). Hal Clement was Guest of Honor and Andrew J. Offutt was Toastmaster. This was the last time it was held at the Holiday Inn East. The committee was also organizing an unsuccessful bid for the Worldcon in 1976.

Marcon X (1975) hosted James E. Gunn at the Neil House which is now long gone (in fact, Marcon XI was one of its last functions before the demolition crews arrived) and is now the site of the Huntington Bank complex. Those of you who attended X or XI will remember the extremely odd sleeping rooms and meeting space. There were bedrooms with mirrors on the ceilings, and at least one with a two-story living room; several of the meeting rooms had mirrors on all the walls. A location directly across from the state Capital might have had something to do with the eclectic décor, or possible the management was mad. This year sow the reincarnation of the Marcon Art Show, which has endured to the present and grown mightily from modest roots. Attendance was still growing with about 185 attendees.

Marcon XI (1976) was still at the Neil House. The hotel management had changed enough for us to believe their promises of corrections from the previous year. Anne Passavoy was there and thought that the air-conditioning was over-effective (to say nothing of other difficulties with equipment and staff) and that the unannounced tornado warning was going rather beyond the pale; so she pondered and brought forth "Marcon Ballroom." The tornado warning resulted in other things besides a very good filk; mass chaos is perhaps as good a summation as any. We had decided to try a Chinese menu banquet - it's truly awesome to see what an incompetent staff can to do otherwise appealing food. It didn't taste too bad, actually, but it was certainly presented in an odd manner. 212 members came to see Guest of Honor Joe Haldeman.

Marcon XII (1977) moved to the Howard Johnson's Motor Lodge North, or as Ross Pavlac put it, HoJoMoLoNo. Since they serve house brand cola, you finally wind up with HoJoMoLoNoCoLa which was incredibly hilarious at 2 am when we were half buzzed and very tired. This was also the con with split accommodations for the first time; the HoJo people had booked out fifty rooms on a permanent basis without telling us, so the late registrants go to try their luck across Route 161, which is eight lanes wide and very busy all night. Alan Dean Foster was Guest of Honor, 222 people attended.

Marcon XIII (1978) was also at the HoJoMoLoNo. The committee brought A. Bertram Chandler in from Australia. This was a true sign of Marcon's growth; very few regional conventions brought GoH's in from overseas prior to this. Attendance jumped to 264.

Marcon XVI (1979) was the last year at HoJo's. Katherine Kurtz was Guest of Honor; Wilson (Bob) Tucker was Toastmaster. Membership increased to 372. It was time to move again.

Marcon XV (1980) moved to yet another new site - the Holiday Inn on the Lane, across from Ohio State University. The Holiday was just marginally large enough if we put the art show up on the 11th floor. We did, and fandom found it, but no one really liked the results. We shared space with the University of Michigan tennis team, which provided more than a few strange memories of party crashing on both sides. The Guest of Honor was L. Sprague de Camp, Toastmaster was Catherine Cooke de Camp, and 383 fans attended.

Marcon XVI (1981) moved to the Hilton Inn University (now the Ramada University Inn). Since we had the attendance (426) and the floor space, we added an organized gaming department, a masquerade, and expanded video to two rooms. Andrew J. Offutt was Guest of Honor.

Marcon XVII (1982) was also held in the Hilton Inn University. Hal Clement was Guest of Honor, Juanita Coulson was Toastmaster, and Buck Coulson was Fan Guest of Honor. Gaming and Masquerade were included for the second straight year, thus becoming a tradition. 379 members came.

Marcon XVIII (1983) was our first held at the Quality Inn on Sinclair road. James P. Hogan was the Guest of honor. The senior committee was a bit frazzled since most of them were also working on the unsuccessful Columbus in '85 NASFIC bid. There were 440 members. We believe this was the first year that Marconey was used as our mascot. This was the first year that Filksinging was an organized (?) activity.

Marcon XIX (1984) was the start of the convention's rebirth. Attendance expanded to 592. We had our first "official" Artist Guest of Honor, Todd Cameron Hamilton. C. J. Cherryh was the Guest of Honor. The program book was the first Marcon parody (of Playboy). This year also brought Godera, a spoof of Japanese monster movies, produced by members of the Concom. Steve Saffel, a committee member hired away by Marvel Comics, returned as a guest and started Marcon's interest in comics.

Marcon XX (1985) was in the same building as the previous two cons, but the name was now the Sinclair Plaza. We found out why Quality Inns Inc. refused to renew the franchise agreement. The first true summer heat wave combined with a lack of functional air conditioning to produce "Sauna Con." Larry Niven was Guest of Honor, Carl Lundgren was Artist Guest of Honor, and Bill Maraschiello was Con Musician. We grew to 723 members.

Marcon XXI (1986) was the first major convention held in the "new" Radisson Hotel Columbus after the ownership changed and the building again changed names. Roger Zelazny was brought back as Guest of Honor for this party convention as Marcon "came of age." Kelly Freas was Artist Guest of Honor, Andrew J. Offutt was Toastmaster, and bill Maraschiello was again Con Musician. We adopted Angie the Aardvark of the Columbus Zoo. We sold fannish cook books to support her. Marcon discovered a friend, Michael Grossberg, on the staff of the Columbus Dispatch and has received excellent local coverage ever since. Marcon's filking sessions were taped by Wail Songs and sold as "Marcon Grows Up." Memberships climbed to 1,056.

Marcon XXII (1987) was forced to move to Mother's Day weekend due to a hotel scheduling mistake. The hotel had an armed guard making sure none of the "weird" fans crashed the brunch. Michael P. Kube-McDowell was Guest of Honor, David Mattingly was the Artist Guest of Honor, and Juanita Coulson was the Toastmaster. For the first time ever, Marcon had a Gaming Guest of Honor, Kevin Siembieda, and a media Guest of Honor, Tom Savini. The previous year was rough on the committee; Bill Maraschiello and Barb Alexander, a past co-chair, had both died. The holiday had lowered attendance to 960.

Marcon XXIII (1988) had David Brin as Guest of Honor, Michael Whelan as Artist Guest of Honor, and Bill Sutton as Toastmaster. Kevin Siembieda repeated as Gaming Guest of Honor. We used a "haunted house" theme throughout the year for advertising and as the theme of the con suite. The Zoo Charity Raffle raised enough money to adopt Oscar the lowland gorilla (buy a banana for a gorilla!). This was the first year that Marcon had a separate track of Children's programming. We had a sneak preview of the animated X-men series, courtesy of Marvel Comics. Marcon had 1,050 members.

Marcon XXIV (1989) was our last year in the Radisson. After 7 years, some of us had more actual time on the property than the management staff! Hal Clement was again Guest of Honor, and Todd Cameron Hamilton was Artist Guest of Honor. Barry and Sally Child-Helton were Filking Guests of Honor, and Steve Jackson was Gaming Guest of Honor. The Zoo charity raffle raised enough money again to adopt Oscar, the lowland gorilla. It was the first year Japanimation had a room of its own. We rejuvenated the masquerade and dance, and started the annual limbo contest. We started working with the local Starfleet chapter, which helped swell the attendance to 1,244. The Marcon committee was now over 80 strong.

More to come...