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Local SF convention sites: uh oh
Dec. 23rd, 2009 04:48 pmNah, I'm not talking about the current sites for the big three (Capricon, Duckon and Windycon); they're all solvent, as far as I know. However, neither the Sheraton Chicago Northwest (site of Capricon from 1998 to 2008) or the Wyndham O'Hare (site of Windycon, 2004 to 2007) were nearly as lucky.
The Wyndham closing is a bit more surprising; I was at Reactor in September and was unaware of anything different in the hotel other than the fact that the sports bar had been remodeled.
OTOH, the Sheraton ended up becoming quite different over the years as a result of yet another remodeling of the lobby (they made an earlier effort when Anime Central was based there and the hotel was a Hilton franchisee) and the addition of CocCo Key Water Resort. It's been my feeling that an underlying reason that the Sheraton booted Capricon - or at least let them go - was due to a perception that SF fans would weird out the mundanes, which is odd considering that (A) nobody in their right mind would probably go to even an indoor water park in February in Chicago unless they were a tad nuts and (B) they also forgot that more than a few Capricon attendees would actually use the water park during the con. I certainly used the food court there at least once after it opened, so their attitude - if I'm correct - was more than a little bizarre and self-defeating.
No word on whether anyone was in line to pick up one or both of those properties.
The Wyndham closing is a bit more surprising; I was at Reactor in September and was unaware of anything different in the hotel other than the fact that the sports bar had been remodeled.
OTOH, the Sheraton ended up becoming quite different over the years as a result of yet another remodeling of the lobby (they made an earlier effort when Anime Central was based there and the hotel was a Hilton franchisee) and the addition of CocCo Key Water Resort. It's been my feeling that an underlying reason that the Sheraton booted Capricon - or at least let them go - was due to a perception that SF fans would weird out the mundanes, which is odd considering that (A) nobody in their right mind would probably go to even an indoor water park in February in Chicago unless they were a tad nuts and (B) they also forgot that more than a few Capricon attendees would actually use the water park during the con. I certainly used the food court there at least once after it opened, so their attitude - if I'm correct - was more than a little bizarre and self-defeating.
No word on whether anyone was in line to pick up one or both of those properties.
