Hello Windycon Community

With the pandemic recovery plan in Illinois proceeding into Phase 5, we are optimistic that we will be able to host a fantastic convention this year. Please allow me to update you on our current situation:

We are planning to host an in-person convention with live streamed programming portions for those unable or uncomfortable with attending in person this year.

Almost all of our Guests of Honor from the Windycon 2020 are intending to participate, most in-person. Regretfully, Mr. Ben Aaronovitch and Mr. John Berlyne are unable to attend our rescheduled 2021 event. We thank them for their commitment to fannish culture and hope to be able to host them at a future Windycon.

We will be going above and beyond the recommended pandemic safety requirements come this November. Safety measures will be in place to ensure the health and safety of all participants.

We are currently accepting suggestions and submissions for panel programming. Please fill out our programming survey.

Out of a need to reduce available spaces to implement social distancing, we will need to alter our schema for offering dealer's tables and art show space. For this year the Dealer's Hall will be implementing a lottery for table space and the Art Show selection will be determined by jury. More information for these processes will be coming soon.

We are still looking for volunteers for this year's event! This year's convention will be more complex than ever before, and we have a need for volunteers across several departments, including some positions that can be done remotely on Discord. Please feel free to reach out to myself, Evan Reeves, on Facebook or email me at chair@windycon.org if you are interested.

The ConCom is overjoyed that things are starting to return to normal, the future is still unclear. We hope that COVID will be long past us come this November, but with only 6 months between now and the convention and already having pivoted from a fully virtual event to a hybrid format, at a certain point we have to stick to a plan and move forward with it. If things continue to look good as we approach November, there are some precautions that we can look to relax. However, the safety of everyone who attends Windycon will always be the first and foremost concern for the entire ConCom.

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please do not hesitate to post or email myself and my Vice-Chair Hope at chair@windycon.org.

Thank you, and I hope to see you either physically or digitally come this November.

Evan Reeves
Convention Chair
Windycon 47 in 2021

A Message from the Windycon Chairs

It is an understatement to say that 2020 has been a very difficult year for the world. The COVID-19 pandemic and the economic upheaval in its wake have highlighted the frailties and inequalities in our social systems. What were once the mundane routines of our lives have become acts of courage and love for our families and communities against an invisible killer.

Furthermore, in the United States, we have been struggling increasingly divisive partisan politics that threaten the basic civil rights of the most vulnerable groups of our citizenry. At no point in the last four years had this threat been made more apparent than during the presidential debate on September 29^th, when the sitting President of the United States, on broadcast television, gave tacit approval to a known hate group by telling them to "stand back and stand by".

In these unprecedented times where trolls and bad-faith actors half-attempt to pass of their vile words as "sarcasm" and accuse those who call them out as "not being able to take a joke", I find it is necessary to be unflinchingly explicit in rebuking such insidious ideas before they take hold.

As the current chair of Windycon, let me be very clear: we completely reject white nationalism and ANY movement which discriminates against people based on their race, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, or religious affiliation. We will not tolerate anyone who espouses such beliefs at our events, and such people are not welcome at our events.

I state this not as a political statement, but as a reaffirmation of basic human rights and decency needed for any society to function. The vast majority of those on the conservative side of the political spectrum hold these to be uncontroversial statements and wholly support equal protections for their fellow citizens. Still, some may see this statement as an attack on their political beliefs, to which I say: so be it. If your politics promote violence against minorities, then I do wholeheartedly reject your political beliefs and judge you for holding them. Do not come to Windycon. You are not welcome.

There are days when I wake up and the idea of planning something as frivolous as a fan convention in the middle of such strife seems patently absurd. But when I see the smiles on our team's faces over Zoom and the excitement on social media as people continue to discuss speculative fiction in Facebook groups and Twitter threads, I am reminded that now, more than ever, the world needs more reasons to come together and celebrate the creative spirit that exists in all of us. And in remembering those better days behind us and imaging those to come, I know that all this is worth it.

Evan Reeves
Convention Chair, Windycon 47 in 2021

J Hope Berger
Vice-Convention Chair, Windycon 47 in 2021