Norwescon’s 46th year reunites thousands of devoted fans in SeaTac

Story & Photos by Taylor Richmond

UW News Lab

Around 2,000 science fiction and fantasy fans gathered for the 46th Norwescon in SeaTac last week at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel.

Known as the premier science fiction and fantasy convention for the Pacific Northwest, the four-day celebration of literature, art, costuming, fiction, and science brought back lifelong aficionados and raised key issues affecting their work.

Elizabeth McKinney’s first Norwescon was in 1998, and this year marked her 20th time attending. She has a familial connection to the convention; her parents met at Norwescon, and years later, her sister took her first steps at the same hotel. “They were letting her crawl up the staircase,” she said, “and then when she got up to the first landing, she decided she’d had enough of crawling.” Her parents’ astonished exclamations, “Did she just take her first steps at a convention?” highlight the significance of Norwescon in her family’s history.

As a Norwescon veteran, McKinney proudly displayed her collection of ribbons that attendees could obtain by participating in different events, visiting booths, or volunteering. At that point, she had 42 ribbons in total.