MedievalCon I 1973

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Location: Angels Anaheim, CA Date: May 26,1973-May 28, 1973

While not an SCA event, John ap Griffin and Bjo of Griffin organized this convention and many members of the Barony of the Angels participated. It, and its successors, were important because they raised awareness of the SCA and Southern Baronies, and therefore contributed to their development.

MedievalCon continued for two additional years, and is fondly remembered by many long-standing members of the kingdom. Some credit it as their first event.

In the January 1976 issue of the Crown Prints, Baron John and Maestra Flavia asked for input regarding the continuance of MedievalCon vs. possibly combining it with Mythcon.

Memories

“Oooh, such a little writeup for such a large event. It was mostly masterminded by John and Bjo Trimble, who were kind of on the outs with the local Barony and wanted to do something medieval that didn't have SCA involvement, as such. Needless to say, a lot of SCA people showed up. “The hotel was very close to Disneyland, and some folks went there at some point. Given Donald Dachau's rules, they did not go in costume.” – Stefan de Lorraine

“I remember that place! We all thought the name was funny. Gordon Monson, Ginny, myself and one other person walked over there in costume, and on the way back we got stopped by a motorcycle cop, who was concerned over our weapons. The sword was ok, but the daggers were not - he let us go, with a warning. I have often wondered if that incident was the origin of the 'Nah laddie, you got it all wrong - that be a flippen broadsword, THIS be a flippen King!' story that appeared a few years latter - I never bought it that the cop in that story wouldn't have drawn his gun and started shooting - I have seen too many scared cops do that in riots. Anyway - it was a fun event. But an expensive way to do what we all did cheaply at tournies.” – James Greyhelm

“Coming into the area, we passed a restaurant called Chaos. Actually, it was a Chinese place called Chao's. A bunch of us went, in costume, for dinner there one night. Nothing to write home about, though I wasn't quite the Chinese food afficianado then that I am now. For those who wonder, I now live in the area and have been by the locale many times, and I don't think it exists any more. The hotel has certainly undergone several changes in name and appearance since MedievalCon.

“Luise couldn't go, but she sent me down with a load of costumes and I changed outfits every hour or so. I believe I won a prize for costumes. It was a notable event in many ways, not the least because Janet of Breakstone was 9 months pregnant with Branwen and the girl was not coming out, so Janet was doing everything she could to encourage her daughter's departure. This was sufficiently successful that we had to ship Janet home half way through the Con.

“Perhaps the most far-reaching effect of the convention was me noticing that John Trimble had a great announcing voice. I mentioned this to Karina of the Far West the next time I saw her, and she immediately acted on it. Before, John had been at something of a loss at SCA events, not being a fighter or artisan, but once you got a herald's tabard on him, watch out...” – Stefan de Lorraine, who has more stories about the 2nd and 3rd Medievalcons...

“Medievalcon was actually planned AFTER we'd pretty well (in our opinion) settled things with the local SCA folk. But we thought such an event might have a place in the SCA, and the locals didn't want to be responsible for sponsoring it. We felt there were many things which could be taught, discussed, or done outside the usual SCA events of tourneys, wars and banquets. This was before colleges got started, remember. So that's how Medievalcon became an independent event. Steve and Kathleen Goldin were in on it, too. I need one of the program booklets to remind me of all the people in on it. John and I had experience running conventions, so we decided to try it. I don't recall if the first one even got out of the red, but we were crazy enough to try it again. People came, learned, and seemed to like it. But when we stopped doing Medieval cons, nobody said anything, so we assumed they weren't going to be missed. If more information is wanted about Medievalcon, which is technically outside this history, then John and I can scrape up old memories and tell you. Steve is right; John's voice had not been appreciated until then. For many years, John was a very good herald, not only at West Coast events, but even at a Pennsic or two.” – Flavia Beatrice Carmigniani

“I missed the first one through being dead broke at that time. The later one or two were a blast, especially the one where we shared the hotel with the very large group of cheerleaders from all over the nation.” – Steven MacEanruig.

More Information

• This event on The History of the Kingdom of the West website

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