Pemmi-Con Day 4: Closing it Down
Today was the final day of Pemmi-Con. I had no early commitments and therefore slept in. After breakfast in the room (again, we have a whole lot of accumulated food), I wanted to go to Starbucks to get a coffee to complete a slightly complicated bonus point challenge. It was raining rather heavily. I asked at the front desk and they did indeed have loaner umbrellas, which was very nice and saved me from getting soaked.
After running over to Rexall just after Noon - they open later on Sunday - I changed into my WSFS Chicon 7 blue jumpsuit and went over to the Exhibit Hall, where I bought pre-supporting memberships to the LA in 2026 Worldcon bid for me and Lisa, plus a smaller membership for Kuma Bear.
At 1 PM, I had a panel back over in the Delta about bidded convention. I found it an interesting conversation, but I protested the person who essentially said that Fandom is obviously dying. I pointed out that this "Greying of Fandom" assumption was old before I was born in 1965, and the wording in the arguments doesn't even seem to change. Oh, well.
After the panel, it was back to the Exhibit Hall, where Lisa and I reclaimed my 1 1/2 Hugo Award trophies (1994 base, 2002 trophy) and carried them back to our hotel room. That took extra time as people are drawn to Hugo Awards, and I'm happy to let people hold them.
I did make one final round-trip to the Exhibit Hall to make sure I hadn't forgotten anything and to deal with some loose ends. I got there just after it nominally closed at 3 PM, but my Division Head ribbon got me in.
I'd forgotten to put my mobile phone in the jumpsuit, which meant that I'd been out of communication with people for three hours. This got Programming nervous, as they needed me to get the gavel to the Closing Ceremonies. After retrieving my phone and my messages, I called Jannie Shae and reassured her that I would be there with the gavel. She also proposed making me part of the procession into the ceremony, and when I got to the right place just before 4 PM, it was agreed that I would follow a piper who had been engaged to "pipe in" the participant while carrying the gavel and its sounder in front of me. The co-chairs and guests of honor followed me. Cheryl Morgan was nearby (I had some things to give her), and she helpfully saved me a seat and held on to my tote bag for me during the piping-in portion of the ceremony.
I took a seat in the audience (with the gavel) and took a picture of the audience.
Toastmaster Tanya Huff did a great job as master of ceremonies. She introduced all of the guests of honour, some of whom had a few closing comments.
Pemmi-Con co-chairs Robbie Bourget and Linda Ross-Mansfield came front and center, I brought them the gavel, and they officially declared the 15th North American Science Fiction Convention over.
They then presented the gavel to Marah Searle-Kovacevic, Vice Chair of Buffalo NASFiC 2024.
There was another First Nations drum number to mark the end of the convention.
And two musical numbers. Then the piper piped out all of the dignitaries, but not me, because the gavel was now officially in the custody of Buffalo. (Actually, the gavel came back to me; in this case, I'm keeping track of it.)
I hung around with Cheryl for a while, then went an played pinball for a little bit, then sent back up to the hotel room and changed out of my jumpsuit. Lisa, who had been in her Imperial Airship Corps uniform along with Kuma Bear, was also changing clothes. There was a Staff Dinner in the hotel restaurant's Private Dining Room. While we had to pay for our own meals, this was an opportunity to gather as a committee and wind down a bit. We went down there; unfortunately, there was nothing on the menu the Lisa wanted to eat, so she excused herself and got some take-out from Elephant & Castle. I enjoyed the penne pasta with prawns, plus a nice corn chowder.
ext="Dazed Moose Party"
Instead of a "Dead Dog" party, Pemmi-Con was holding a Dazed Moose Party in the Con Suite. I popped in briefly, but thought an earlier night would be good for me, so I headed back to the hotel room.
So that's the end of Pemmi-Con, the 15th NASFiC, but not the end of our stay here in Winnipeg. We do not check out until Tuesday morning. Tomorrow morning, I have to call the mechanic and find out whether I get the minivan back tomorrow or have to leave it with him until the end of July. The answer to that question will determine just how we pack up the hotel room and move it to where we're storing things that we do not need in Churchill.
After running over to Rexall just after Noon - they open later on Sunday - I changed into my WSFS Chicon 7 blue jumpsuit and went over to the Exhibit Hall, where I bought pre-supporting memberships to the LA in 2026 Worldcon bid for me and Lisa, plus a smaller membership for Kuma Bear.
At 1 PM, I had a panel back over in the Delta about bidded convention. I found it an interesting conversation, but I protested the person who essentially said that Fandom is obviously dying. I pointed out that this "Greying of Fandom" assumption was old before I was born in 1965, and the wording in the arguments doesn't even seem to change. Oh, well.
After the panel, it was back to the Exhibit Hall, where Lisa and I reclaimed my 1 1/2 Hugo Award trophies (1994 base, 2002 trophy) and carried them back to our hotel room. That took extra time as people are drawn to Hugo Awards, and I'm happy to let people hold them.
I did make one final round-trip to the Exhibit Hall to make sure I hadn't forgotten anything and to deal with some loose ends. I got there just after it nominally closed at 3 PM, but my Division Head ribbon got me in.
I'd forgotten to put my mobile phone in the jumpsuit, which meant that I'd been out of communication with people for three hours. This got Programming nervous, as they needed me to get the gavel to the Closing Ceremonies. After retrieving my phone and my messages, I called Jannie Shae and reassured her that I would be there with the gavel. She also proposed making me part of the procession into the ceremony, and when I got to the right place just before 4 PM, it was agreed that I would follow a piper who had been engaged to "pipe in" the participant while carrying the gavel and its sounder in front of me. The co-chairs and guests of honor followed me. Cheryl Morgan was nearby (I had some things to give her), and she helpfully saved me a seat and held on to my tote bag for me during the piping-in portion of the ceremony.
I took a seat in the audience (with the gavel) and took a picture of the audience.
Toastmaster Tanya Huff did a great job as master of ceremonies. She introduced all of the guests of honour, some of whom had a few closing comments.
Pemmi-Con co-chairs Robbie Bourget and Linda Ross-Mansfield came front and center, I brought them the gavel, and they officially declared the 15th North American Science Fiction Convention over.
They then presented the gavel to Marah Searle-Kovacevic, Vice Chair of Buffalo NASFiC 2024.
There was another First Nations drum number to mark the end of the convention.
And two musical numbers. Then the piper piped out all of the dignitaries, but not me, because the gavel was now officially in the custody of Buffalo. (Actually, the gavel came back to me; in this case, I'm keeping track of it.)
I hung around with Cheryl for a while, then went an played pinball for a little bit, then sent back up to the hotel room and changed out of my jumpsuit. Lisa, who had been in her Imperial Airship Corps uniform along with Kuma Bear, was also changing clothes. There was a Staff Dinner in the hotel restaurant's Private Dining Room. While we had to pay for our own meals, this was an opportunity to gather as a committee and wind down a bit. We went down there; unfortunately, there was nothing on the menu the Lisa wanted to eat, so she excused herself and got some take-out from Elephant & Castle. I enjoyed the penne pasta with prawns, plus a nice corn chowder.
ext="Dazed Moose Party"
Instead of a "Dead Dog" party, Pemmi-Con was holding a Dazed Moose Party in the Con Suite. I popped in briefly, but thought an earlier night would be good for me, so I headed back to the hotel room.
So that's the end of Pemmi-Con, the 15th NASFiC, but not the end of our stay here in Winnipeg. We do not check out until Tuesday morning. Tomorrow morning, I have to call the mechanic and find out whether I get the minivan back tomorrow or have to leave it with him until the end of July. The answer to that question will determine just how we pack up the hotel room and move it to where we're storing things that we do not need in Churchill.