I-CON (short for "Island CONvention") was a (roughly) annual

fan convention Fan convention (also known as con or fan meeting), a term that predates 1942, is an event in which fans of a particular topic gather to participate and hold programs and other events, and to meet experts, famous personalities, and each other. Some ...

, held on various college campuses in Suffolk County,

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

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. First held in 1982 on the campus of

Stony Brook University Stony Brook University (SBU), officially the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is a public research university in Stony Brook, New York. Along with the University at Buffalo, it is one of the State University of New York system's ...

, I-CON became a very

eclectic Eclectic may refer to: Music * ''Eclectic'' (Eric Johnson and Mike Stern album), 2014 * ''Eclectic'' (Big Country album), 1996 * Eclectic Method, name of an audio-visual remix act * Eclecticism in music, the conscious use of styles alien to th ...

convention. The programming included things normally found at different types of convention, like speeches by and talks with

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

authors, extensive

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fandom, comics fandom,

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, multiple

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showings, and

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programming, as well as live

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s. There was also a science track discussing recent developments in various branches of science and exploring the real science behind science fiction technologies. I-CON was jointly held by ICON Science Fiction, Inc., a tax-exempt educational foundation, and the I-CON Campus Chapter of Stony Brook.

History

I-CON was preceded by SUNYcon (April 14, 1973), Mudcon (May 8, 1977), and Brookcon (October 28–30, 1977), held on the Stony Brook campus. I-CON was held annually from 1983 through 2012 at

, except for 2009, when it relocated temporarily to the Brentwood campus of Suffolk County Community College, due to planned construction at Stony Brook University. In the spring of 2012, I-CON was informed that the

Stony Brook Sports Complex The Stony Brook Indoor Sports Complex is a multi-purpose complex located in Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY. The Complex houses the Island Federal Arena on the west end, the Pritchard Gymnasium on the east end, the Dubin Family Athletic ...

would be unavailable due to construction in 2013. ICON Science Fiction, Inc. scouted several possible locations on Long Island as an alternative venue, eventually entering into an agreement with

Hofstra University Hofstra University is a private university in Hempstead, New York. It is Long Island's largest private university. Hofstra originated in 1935 as an extension of New York University (NYU) under the name Nassau College – Hofstra Memorial of Ne ...

. Due to many compounding issues including finances and delays caused by

Hurricane Sandy Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as ''Superstorm Sandy'') was an extremely destructive and strong Atlantic hurricane, as well as the largest Atlantic hurricane on record as measured by diameter, with tropical-storm-force winds spann ...

, the board decided to postpone I-CON 32, with plans to raise funds via smaller events and return in 2014, but made no announcements about future dates. I-CON ran smaller conventions, LI-CON, in 2014 and 2015, at other venues on Long Island. I-CON 32 occurred on March 17–19, 2017, at Suffolk County Community College, Grant Campus,

Brentwood, New York Brentwood is a hamlet in the Town of Islip in Suffolk County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 62,387 at the 2020 Census, making it the most populous in Suffolk County and on all of Long Island outside of New York C ...

. The website was updated February 14, 2019 to announce a trip to a library exhibit, having previously been last updated on August 11, 2016.

Event history

LI-CON

References

External links

*{{Official website, http://www.iconsf.org/ Defunct science fiction conventions in the United States Defunct multigenre conventions