Norwescon, Sakura-Con, and Easter Weekend

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This entry was published at least two years ago (originally posted on March 28, 2010). Since that time the information may have become outdated or my beliefs may have changed (in general, assume a more open and liberal current viewpoint). A fuller disclaimer is available.

I keep seeing questions about why Norwescon and Sakura-Con are both scheduled for Easter weekend this year. Here’s my attempt at an answer, with the disclaimer that I’m not speaking officially for Norwescon or Sakura-Con. This is just what I’ve picked up while chatting with people over the past couple years, and what I can verify over the ‘net (using the past convention dates from Wikipedia for Norwescon and Sakura-Con and this table of Easter dates).

Historically, Norwescon has been on Easter weekend for the majority of its existence, and the past 14 years consecutively:

  • On Easter Weekend: NWC 1, 11, 14, 17, 19-32
  • Near Easter Weekend: NWC 2-10 (and Alternatcon), 12, 15-16, 18

Sakura-Con, which has been in existence for fewer years (13) than Norwescon’s been consistently using Easter weekend (14), spent most of its first decade using weekends other than Easter weekend, very probably in an attempt not to conflict with Norwescon, as there is a lot of fan crossover between the two conventions. In fact, the first two years of Sakuracon were held at the SeaTac DoubleTree, the same hotel that Norwescon was using at the time (and is still using now).

  • On Easter Weekend: SC 10, 12-13
  • Near Easter Weekend: SC 1-9, 11

So, in a sense, Norwescon does have the elementary schoolyard ability to stick its tongue out at Sakura-Con and stamp its feet, saying, “We were here first!” But that would be silly.

So why the change in Sakura-Con’s schedule, if (as I’m guessing) since they at first attempted to work around Norwescon’s established schedule?

Simply put, it’s business. Easter weekend isn’t one of the big travel holidays, and conventions are more able to negotiate better usage rates (in everything from space rental fees to discounted room rates). It’s a win-win for both the convention and the hotel: the convention gets to use the hotel for as little money as realistically possible; the hotel gets a huge amount of business on an otherwise traditionally slow weekend.

So, as Sakura-Con grew in popularity, and needed to expand to find more and more space, I’d be willing to bet that after a while, it simply worked out that the best deals it could get for space (claiming space at the downtown Seattle Convention Center) and its fans (it looks like at least one downtown hotel is offering discounted rates for Sakura-Con attendees) were going to be on Easter weekend.

So yes, at times, it can be a little frustrating to have two major local conventions with a fair amount of cross-pollination in their fanbase going on over the same weekend. However, it’s a friendly competition, and there are always a small number of fans who do their best to bounce between both cons, or at least stop by the other convention once they’ve established a “home base” at one. Doing so is even easier than ever this year, now that the Central Link light rail is in operation: from Norwescon, just take a shuttle from the DoubleTree to the airport, hop the Link downtown, and you can probably be at the Washington State Convention Center and in the midst of Sakura-Con in right about an hour.

Whichever con you choose, though (for me, it’s Norwescon), have fun!

UPDATE: While I’m keeping the “not speaking officially” disclaimer up, I’ve received a number of comments from various people on the Norwescon ConCom (Convention Committee) thanking me for this post, and indicating that they’ll be passing it around as an answer to this oft-repeated question. Awesome!

UPDATE #2: Former Sakura-Con staff member and con chair Isaac Alexander contacted me via Twitter with a few minor corrections to what I wrote:

The Double Tree Inn at South Center is completely different then the Double Tree Sea Tac(which used to be the Red Lion Sea-Tac). The Double Tree Inn at South Center was torn down a couple years ago to make space for the mall expansion.

You were absolutely correct about us not wanting to conflict in the early years with norwes because of the crossover with fans.

11 thoughts on “Norwescon, Sakura-Con, and Easter Weekend”

  1. It’s a little better now that there’s CONVENTION TRAIN! Just go to Norwescon, walk to TRAIN! and then zum train to downtown and ping! You’re at Sakuracon! Then TRAIN! and you’re back at Norwescon!

    I’m very happy about Convention Train. ^_^

  2. I can’t speak from any experience, but it appears to me that Norwescon does not want to grow any larger. They have been selling out a few times over the past few years, but have not moved to a different venue.

    This certainly does focus the event on being the best sci-fi WRITER’s convention, since that pool of people does not grow in general. And it keeps the convention goers as a tight knit family. (I certainly seem to know, or at least recognize, over half of the people.)

    And now that Sakura has taken the convention center, Norwescon probably can’t even choose to grow. They would have to jump off of Easter weekend, which would put the price too high for several ballrooms and all of the panel discussion rooms, no doubt.

    And what would happen to the room parties?!?!?

  3. Also consider that Sakura Con’s attendance in 2009 was 16,586
    While Norwescon still averages about 3000.

    I still don’t buy it. I get the feeling that both cons are doing well financially and should be capable of looking at other options. Especially Norwescon which has the potential to grow.

  4. Let’s throw in another factor:

    Sakuracon has better attendance than Emerald City Comicon. 16k compared to 11k. They are both at the WA State Convention Center but you don’t see Emerald City fighting for a holiday weekend. What is the difference there?

  5. I’m in the same boat with Todd, in feeling that Norwescon sits at something of a size “sweet spot,” where growing much larger would be more detrimental than helpful. A lot of the comments I’m seeing relate to how nice of a balance Norwescon hits between being big enough to have a lot of stuff going on, and being small enough that it still feels comfortable and “home-y,” like you’re hanging around with a bunch of friends, rather than being another anonymous face in the midst of a huge crowd.

    (Though to clarify part of Todd’s post, this is the first time Norwescon sold out at least in the last decade, possibly as far back as Norwescon 9. Rockin’!)

  6. I attended the first two Sakura-Cons in ’98 and ’99, except it was then known as Baka!-Con. The name was chosen because they figured it would be a familiar word to anime fans. But for the third year they decided that being essentially named “Idiot!-Con” was more of a disadvantage than the word’s familiarity and chose a much better name. Boy it sure has grown since the 313 attendees at the first one.

  8. Speaking just for myself, I concur with Michael in that Norwescon is in the sweet. It’s the largest regional science fiction convention, and compares well with other regionals in New England, Midewest, etc… I don’t see a clamoring for Norwescon to get larger from it’s members. They’re happy who they are at this time, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

    Seattle is very fortunate to have such a thriving fandom and convention scene. Not all cities have what we have.

  9. I can’t link to this, since it’s from a private Google Groups board for the Norwescon ConCom, but as the final numbers were announced at the Closing Ceremonies, and as the thread I’m pulling this from was giving the numbers to Seattle Geekly for inclusion in their Norwescon wrapup podcast, I’m confident that I can post them here:

    The rumors are true, and Norwescon officially sold out this year, with a final total of 3,346 memberships sold. We actually sold out on Saturday night, leaving us only able to accept pre-registrations for Norwescon 34 on Sunday. Thanks so much to all the attendees for your incredible support!

    (For the curious, that’s not a predetermined number. Rather, we start with ~3,500 blank badges, and work our way through. The 154-badge difference is due to some badges being held in reserve for problems, reprints, and special cases.)

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