Sunday, February 16, 2014

AnachroCon report

IMPORTANT ADDITION: Please read my follow-up post as to why I will not be attending AnachroCon again.

Con report warning: this is long and probably kind of boring. I didn't take very many pictures for some reason.

Above: spicy chocolate cogs I bought in the dealers room. They're good! They got kind of smudgy and melty from me carrying them around in my hot little hands.

This weekend I went to AnachroCon in Atlanta, a convention focusing on history and alternate history. I left for Atlanta after work Friday afternoon, and got checked in at the hotel and convention in time to attend the leatherworking panel at 8pm. It was a lively, interesting panel, well-moderated, and set a good tone for the convention. After that I went to the Eat Your Drink panel, about cooking with alcohol, which was also excellent and had food samples. This was good, because the hotel had no real restaurant in the evenings--you could order food at the bar, but it was noisy and crowded and the food overpriced. I figured I'd walk around outside and find a nearby restaurant. I mean, who ever heard of a big hotel (the Atlanta Marriott Perimeter Center) without at least one moderately-priced restaurant next door? But there was nothing nearby except a pricy, crowded restaurant at the bottom of the hill. I ended up eating some chips and an orange I'd brought from home instead of a real meal.

Anyway, the con is a relatively small one but I was astonished at how many people dressed up for it. I estimate at least 90% of attendees wore a con outfit/costume, maybe more. I wore my awesome hat, but jeans, boots, and T-shirts, and felt very underdressed! It was awesome. Everywhere I looked I got ideas for outfits. And even though I didn't know anyone at the con, the tone was warm and welcoming, and I felt comfortable starting up conversations with strangers.

In the morning the tea-room was open for breakfast. I got the buffet and wasn't enormously impressed with the food for the price, although they did have some excellent fresh fruit. I stuffed myself, because the schedule I'd worked out for the day was so busy I wasn't sure when I'd get a chance to eat again. AnachroCon has TONS of programming, and so many of the panels interested me that sometimes I had a hard time deciding what to attend.

I'm an early riser, and after breakfast had over an hour to kill before the first panel at 10am. I'd brought a book with me, Kenneth Oppel's excellent Airborn, which I was almost done reading, so I got some coffee and tucked myself in a corner of the quiet bar to read and watch people wander by. That was pleasant, and then I attended three excellent food-related panels in a row: the history of candy and Sweet Alchemy (the science of candy) by the same panelist who'd presented the Eat Your Drink panel the night before (Esdee Ar, who has an etsy shop where she sells her awesome handmade candies), and a panel on the history of chocolate. After that I went straight to a history panel about WWI pilots, which was both interesting and fun.

After that I had planned to go to a few more panels, but it was 2pm and I was hungry again, and I didn't want to go to the 4pm absinthe tasting on an empty stomach. I checked the area map on the con website and found out there was a bagel shop about a quarter mile away. I walked there and got a bagel and (bad) hot chocolate, then came back and got in line for the absinthe tasting.


It was a $20 extra charge which I'd paid in advance, and I believe it was sold out. It was run by the folks from Tea and Absinthe, and it was so much fun! I'd never tried absinthe before although I'd always wanted to. We tasted six brands, plus a homebrewed absinthe for those who were brave (I wasn't). The talk was fascinating and the absinthe very different from anything I'd expected. It's not really to my taste but I'm glad I got the opportunity to try it. It's got a very strong licorice taste from the anise, with a slightly bitter aftertaste from the wormwood. Oddly enough, while I didn't love the taste, I liked the aftertaste.


After the tasting, I asked the presenters, Daniel Myers and Pacita Prasarn (that's her in the picture above, on her knees to get a closer look at a glass) to sign my bucket list book. They were both very gracious to do so!


I had planned to attend the Tea Dueling at 5pm, but the absinthe tasting ran long--it was a big crowd--and I came in at the very end of the duel. After that, though, Daniel Myers gave a talk about the history of tea, called Blood on the Leaf, which was both fascinating and a bit demoralizing considering how awful people are to each other. But he made it funny too, and brought good tea so we all sat around to listen and ask questions and sip.

I was so full of absinthe and tea after that that I skipped supper and went on to two more panels: a fun and inspiring panel on the panelists' favorite types of tools for costume crafting, and a panel called Character Through Costume, which was also inspiring. Seriously, I have so many ideas! I can't wait to hit the local thrift shops to see what I can find.

There was programming today (Sunday), including some panels I wanted to attend, but I had a long drive ahead of me and wanted some time to wind down, do laundry, and get ready for the workweek. So I left this morning early.

I'd love to attend AnachroCon again next year--but not if they're at the same hotel or if the hotel doesn't open a real restaurant. I enjoyed the con enormously, though. It was well-run, friendly, and a lot of fun! Next time I will dress up.

ETA: I've heard the con will be held in a bigger hotel next year, so I'm definitely going to attend.

4 comments:

  1. I am so very glad you enjoyed it! As a member of the staff, I get to see very little of the programming and I am glad to hear you got a good variety with consistent quality.

    And the Chairman announced that we would be in a larger hotel at *opening* ceremonies, so yes, that is already publicly in the works.

    It was a very short drive (<1 mile) to the mall and many nearby restaurants. While I understand, what with the parking and all, why people did not want to leave the hotel, there really is a high saturation of restaurants in the area and it is probably why that particular hotel does not have a big food service of its own.

    When you come next year, do ask about the Convention Hospitality Suite, known simply as "ConSuite." While we can't promise you a balanced diet, we will never knowingly let you go hungry!

    Scylla, On-Site Registration

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  2. Thanks! Yes, I didn't want to give up my parking spot, especially on Saturday when there were no free spaces to be had. I don't mind walking, but not everyone is lucky enough to be able-bodied. I'm very glad the con will be held in another, bigger hotel next year! (And I never remember to stop by the con suite, but I always bring snacks of my own so I'm good.)

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  3. Wow, I would have loved all the food/cooking stuff. I'm sorry the whole thing is tempered by what you found out later.

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  4. It sounds like they really are working hard to improve it for next year. I hope so! I really did have so much fun and I would very much like to attend again.

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