Other MnSTEF cons, mostly fallcons

MnSTEF generally throws a small relaxing convention in the fall, a fallcon. Our tradition has been to casually discard names and to give chairs a great deal of leeway as to what sort of con they run. This, along with the very informal nature of some of the cons, makes it challenging to present a complete history. Nevertheless, we will try. In accordance with fannish tradition, a "1" is appended to any convention which was followed by another of the same name, even if the original con with that name didn't advertise itself as such.

As with Minicon there is no connection, strictly speaking, between any two fallcons, except that they are all MnSTEF-sanctioned conventions. None are regularly scheduled, except that Minicon has managed, despite this, to be on Easter weekend once a year for a very long time now. (At least this is how it works under current MnSTEF bylaws. In ancient times, the bylaws did specifically talk about Minicon.)

What I'm trying to say (besides being pedantic, which I do enjoy) is that there's no guarantee that every year comes with exactly one fallcon. Some years, we just at Minicon, and twice we had three cons in a year. Plus, in some cases, you have to squint to say "fall" (one was in August). To muddy the waters further, or to clear them further, depending on what sort of a person you are, two Minicons in the 70's were the fallcons.

A brief history of (mostly) MnSTEF fallcons

Name Dates Membership Location (City) Guests Theme, slogan, etc. Notes
Minicon 5 Oct 15-17, 1971 100 total Andrews Hotel (Minneapolis) none The Genghiscon! The first Minicon fallcon
MnSTEF didn't hold any fallcons (or other non-Minicon cons) 1972-1973
Minicon 9 Oct 11-13, 1974 190 total Minneapolis Public Library/​Dyckman Hotel (Minneapolis) GoHs: Judy Lynn and Lester del Rey The second and last Minicon fallcon
MnSTEF didn't hold any fallcons (or other non-Minicon cons) 1975-1977
Anokon 1 Sept 22-24, 1978 65 pre-reg, 122 total Holiday Inn (Anoka) Bob Tucker and Rusty Hevelin Originally intended to be called Minicon 14, causing Minicon to skip from 13 to 15.
Anokon 2 Sept 14-16, 1979 Jim Young, in absentia Updated in the last year
Not-Anokon 1 Sept 12-14, 1980 Holiday Inn Capitol (St. Paul) Not-GoH: Gordon R. Dickson Updated in the last year
Not-Anokon 2 Sept 25-27, 1981 Updated in the last year
Plergbcon Sept 10-12, 1982 Ramada Inn (St. Paul) Pat Wrede, pro GoH
Kevin Smith, fan GoH
Peter Touluzzi, fan GoH
Updated in the last year
Maxicon 1 Sept 23-25, 1983 About 150 total Midway Motor Inn (St. Paul)
Maxicon 2 Sept 14-16, 1984 213 pre-reg, 250 total Minneapolis Plaza Updated in the last year
Not-Anokon '85 Oct 4-6, 1985 Ramada Inn (St. Paul) GoH: Pamela Dean The numerical part of this con's name was not used consistently.
Not-Anokon 8 Sept 5-7, 1986 Sunwood Inn (Bandana Square) (St. Paul) GoH: Bob Shaw Also calling itself "Not-Anokon 11" at least once. Updated in the last year
C'ntraction Nov 13-15, 1987 150 total Days Inn (Roseville) GoH: Patrick Lucien Price
Consensus*

*with Don abstaining
Oct 21-23, 1988 Hotel Seville (Bloomington) None
Confection Sept 29-Oct 1, 1989 102 pre-reg, 160 total Normandy Inn (Minneapolis) GoH: John M. Ford
Conscription Nov 2-4, 1990 Bradbury Suites (Bloomington) GoH: Richard Tatge
ReinCONation 1 Sept 6-8, 1991 186 total Radisson South (a.k.a. the RadishTree) (Bloomington) GoH: Geri Sullivan and Bob Tucker
Supercon 1 Jan 24-26, 1992 64 pre-reg, 101 total, 97 warm Radisson (Duluth) GoH: Elise Matthesen
ReinCONation 2 Sept 11-13, 1992 210 total, 199 warm Radisson South (Bloomington) Honored guests/GoH: James White and Jeanne Gomoll Just like it used to be — only different!
Supercon 2 Jan 22-24, 1993 Park Inn (Duluth) GoH: Martin Shaffer
ReinCONation 3 Aug 20-22, 1993 119 pre-reg, 207 total, 194 warm Radisson South (Bloomington) GoH: Debbie Notkin This "fallcon" was very much in the summer!
ReinCONation 4 Sept 9-11, 1994 124 pre-reg, 190 total, 172 warm Regency Plaza (Minneapolis) GoH: Alexei & Cory Panshin
ReinCONation 5 Oct 13-15, 1995 Honored guests/GoH: Judith Merril (who wasn't able to attend), Andy Hooper Cogitamus Ergo Festivamus Original website; no earlier fallcon had a website
ReinCONation 6 Oct 18-20, 1996 Radisson South (Bloomington) Honored guests/GoH: Spider & Jeanne Robinson, Jan Bogstad original website
Not-A-ReinCONation Oct 24-26, 1997 At least 60 Various None (original website; see also the ReinCONation index page)
Flashback! Oct 30-Nov 1, 1998 104 warm Best Western Northwest Inn (Brooklyn Park) GoH Steven Brust, GoH Emeritus Gordon R. Dickson (archive with original site mirror)
The Millenium Fallcon/Ditto 12 Oct 29-31, 1999 87 pre-reg Radisson Metrodome (Minneapolis) None We've waited 22 years to use this joke. Spelled like that, yes. (archive with original site mirror)
No MnSTEF fallcon, but Relaxacon 2000 was held Oct 20-22 and had roughly the same social function.
Consume/Relaxacon 2001 was held Oct 19-21; it's unclear if it was a MnSTEF con
Consume/​Relaxacon 2002 Oct 25-27, 2002 Ramada Inn Northwest (Brooklyn Park) Posthumous GoH: Scott Imes The Best Fed Little Fallcon in Fandom! (archive with original site mirror)
Consume/Relaxacon 2003 was held Oct 17-19; it's unclear if it was a MnSTEF con
No MnSTEF fallcon, but Consume/Relaxacon 2004 was held Oct 15-17 and had roughly the same social function.
No MnSTEF fallcon, but Consume/Relaxacon 2005 was held Oct 14-16 and had roughly the same social function.
Convivial 1 Oct 20-22, 2006 43 pre-reg, at least 50 total The hotel in Bloomington known as the Holiday Inn Select for Convivials 1–4, the Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites for Conjecture 1, and the Crowne Plaza Hotel for Conjectures 2 and 3. Sheesh. None Starting with Convivial 1, all fallcons have their original websites still up.
Convivial 2 Oct 19-21, 2007 At least 31 warm None
Convivial 3 Oct 17-19, 2008 37 pre-reg None
Convivial 4 Oct 16-18, 2009 37 pre-reg None
Conjecture 1 Oct 15-17, 2010 ~50 total None I think it's a relaxicon...
Conjecture 2 Oct 14-16, 2011 36 pre-reg, 51 total, 51 warm None
Conjecture 3 Oct 19-21, 2012 39 pre-reg, 56 total, 54 warm None
METHOD Con 1 Oct 18-20, 2013 49 pre-reg, 56 total, 55 warm SpringHill Suites Marriott (St. Louis Park) None
METHOD Con 2 Oct 10-12, 2014 60 pre-reg, 77 total, 76 warm Ramada MSP Airport at the Mall (a.k.a. the Thunderada) (Bloomington) Featured artist: Tim Cooper, featured authors: Emma Bull and Will Shetterly
No MnSTEF fallcon in 2015, but the second JOFCon was held Oct 9-11 and fulfilled some of the same social functions.
Decongestant 1 Oct 14-16, 2016 49 pre-reg, 70 total, 70 warm Hilton (Bloomington West) None
Decongestant 2 Oct 6-8, 2017 58 pre-reg, 70 total, 66 warm None Food and badge theme: absurd cakes
Decongestant 3 Sept 28-30, 2018 47 pre-reg, 63 total, 61 warm Sucker GoH: Joe Pregracke Food theme: digits (fingers and toes). Badge theme: sloths.
Decongestant 4 Sept 27-29, 2019 59 pre-reg, 74 total, 71 warm Sucker GoH: Clay Harris Scary Science Fiction; Food theme: Spooky Snacks Partnered with Arcana
Because of the pandemic, there were no MnSTEF cons in 2020 or 2021. Besides intending to have Decongestant 5 in 2020, we had also started taking memberships for Worst Convergence Ever, intended to be a camping con at Afton State Park, July 2-6, 2020, but this was canceled and not revived.
Decongestant 5 Oct 7-9, 2022 47 pre-reg, 62 total, 49 warm Hilton (Bloomington West) Vampire GoH: Brian Forrest   Originally scheduled for Oct 2-4, 2020, then Sept 24-26, 2021. Postponed twice for the pandemic.
CONFelicity Oct 6-8, 2023 35 pre-reg, 48 total, 44 warm Sucker GoH: Isaac Schneider    

Further notes: For GoH-like people, I have tried to note what they were called by the con at the time. Trouble is, sometimes the distinction between "GoH" and "honored guest", or whatever, is fraught with deep meaning, and sometimes they are just synonyms. It's often hard to tell from a flyer decades later, so I hope I have not horribly misrepresented anyone.

This list does not count the picnic back when it people called it Picnicon, or any other not-really-con that got the suffix -con tacked on for fun. The line is fuzzy, but is basically drawn by requiring the event to be a 3-day shindig in a hotel requiring a paid membership (or one that the board has clearly designated a con). An exception is made for Not-A-Reinconation, which was a 3-day roving house party, but clearly part of a series of cons.

List curator as of 2024: MnSTEF archivist Matt Strait.

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