OKon

Convention
Name:	OKon
Dates:
Frequency:
Location:	Tulsa, Oklahoma
Type:	fan run fan con
Focus:	science fiction fandom/Star Trek: TOS
Organization:	STARbase Tulsa
Founder:
Founding Date:	1977
URL:
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

OKcon was a fan-run science fiction convention held in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It was held by STARbase Tulsa, the oldest science fiction/Star Trek fan club in Oklahoma (based in 1973).

• Okon 1 - 1977
• Okon 2 -1978
• Okon 3 - 1979
• Okon 4 -1980 "Ellison was in fact once invited to be a guest at OKon. In his reply letter, Ellison declined, stating he would rather 'eat a maggot sandwich' than visit Oklahoma in July."
• no con in 1981 as the hotel was closed at the last moment.
• Okon 5 - 1982
• Okon 6 - 1983
• Okon 7 - 1984
• Okon 8 -1985
• Okon 9 - 1986
• Okon 10 - 1987
• Okon 11 - 1988
• Okon 12 - 1989
• Okon 13 - 1990
• Okon 15 - 1992

Gallery

blurb from the 1979 program book	badge from 1977
cover of 1978 program by Mike Wallace. The whole program book is here	cover of 1979 program, very similar to the cover of Warped Space#Issue 38, perhaps the same artist?

1978: Con Reports

I got quite a few stares when I got out to pump gas [while on the way to the con from Arkansas]. I was wearing a bright green shirt with a red tunic and Darkovan-style pants and boots. The women were dressed like Darkovan ladies. Lisa wanted to wear a Keeper's costume but the 110 degree Tulsa heat made that unwise. So her costume was not elaborate. Barbara Roberts was dressed like a Free Amazon and she carried a dagger at her waist.

We received a lot of stares at the gas station. One man let the cigaret fall out of his gaping mouth! I guess Okies just aren't used to seeing Darkovans.

We arrived safely at the Mayo Hotel where OKon was held. After we got into the con, the hostile stares ended. Most of the people were in costume or wearing slogan T-shirts. We spent the day wandering around the huckster room and watching movies in the film room. I got to talk briefly to C. J. Cherryh. She had intended to make an appearance at our Summer Festival but her time was taken up by OKon activities. It's a 20-mile drive to Bixby from the center of Tulsa so the driving time to and from our Festival would have been a full hour. I guess even SF writers have to rest sometime!

Saturday night we had our Festival party. All of us were there including some of Lisa's SCA friends. Our food was prepared from the Darkover Cookbook. . .chicken, cheese, potatoes, and coarse home-made bread. . .consumed almost immediately. Lisa and Barbara had to prepare more. We spent the evening and much of the wee hours of the morning discussing Darkover and related universes. There was a little filksinging. We don't know too many songs and so we had to improvise. Star Trek is seen in Tulsa at 10:30 PM so we had the TV on for that. That started a ST discussion. I pooped out at 3 AM and went upstairs to bed.

Sunday we slept until almost noon. We went to OKon again. On Sunday night we were all worn out so we just sat around and read or fell asleep in the chairs. We all had a lot of fun and plan to have another Mid-Summer Festival next year. At OKon we had a lot of comments about our costumes. We couldn't participate in OKon as much as we wanted since we had our own little con going. One of the OKon organizers was curious about my costume. When I told him about Darkover Fandom he was a little surprised. He didn't know it was so organized and large.

At the con there was the usual craziness. One boy was dressed as Darth Vader. He got a kick out of having the elevator stop at floors wiere there were people not associated with OKon. . .scared the daylights out of two old ladies waiting for the elevator. They obviously didn't know what a Darth Vader was.

External Sources

• more information at A Short History of OKon by Tim Frayser
• more information at Midamerican Fan Photo Archive