Muskrat Jamboree

Name:	Muskrat Jamboree
Dates:	Early April in odd-numbered years
Frequency:	biennial
Location:	Boston, MA
Type:	fan-run
Focus:	slash fandom
Organization:
Founder:	Brooklinegirl
Founding Date:	April 2007
URL:	community livejournal
Click here for articles related to this site on Fanlore.

Muskrat Jamboree is a multi-fandom slash convention in the Boston area. It began as a (sort-of) joke; one of the organizers was frustrated by experiences at a different con, and quipped that she could run a better con with her friends on just a few months' notice. So many people responded to that post by saying, "hey, if you throw a con, I'll come" (or variations on that theme) that the running joke quickly turned into a reality.

As many of the organizers were in Due South fandom at the time, the con was named after a small-town festival in Inuvik: "Every year Inuvik hosts the Muskrat Jamboree. It's a variation on any of the thousands of community festivals held across Canada each year."^[1] It's possible this name was initially offered to prospective con-goers as a joke, but it was overwhelmingly the most popular option!

Registration is limited to 140 people. Fans must be at least 18 years old in order to attend.

MJ 1

The first MJ took place in March of 2007. It featured two days of panels^[2], a party, and a vidshow ^[3]. While the con was going on, those who weren't able to attend were invited to participate in Rat Jam, an online discussion forum at livejournal. ^[4].

Among MJ 1's unexpected highlights were the goody bags that were given to everyone at the con, which featured all kinds of Canada paraphernalia, maps of the Northwest Territories, temporary tattoos of rainbows and hearts and the Canadian flag, and individualized dogtags printed withe each con-goer's name.

MJ 2

The second biennial MJ took place April 3-4 2009 at the Radisson Hotel Boston. (In alternating years, the concom encourages congoers to attend Con.txt in the Baltimore area instead.)

2009 panels will include fandom-specific options including "Tinhatting McShep" (Stargate Atlantis), "Mutual of Omaha!: The Middlepanel" (The Middleman), and "Making it New and Making it Last (aka: Hello, it's been fifteen years since they aired the Due South pilot! And Fraser? Still delicious!)" (Due South) alongside meta panels including "Little Black Dresses and Why We Love Them," "The Linguistics of Fandom," and "It's Alive!: What Keeps Closed Canons Open to Fandom?"^[5]

The 2009 con will also feature a vidshow, followed by a dance party. On Saturday night, once the formal con has ended, an outing to a drag bar is planned.