Sponsor a Bench at MidAmeriCon II

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MidAmeriCon II’s Patty Wells and Melissa Morman are looking for help furnishing the exhibit hall at this year’s Worldcon in Kansas City. Here’s their pitch:

One of the advantages of being favored with five acres of exhibit hall is that we have the room to make our dreams come true. One of our dreams is to put a river through it — so we have also gone and put a park alongside that for good measure. And what is a park, or a river, without park benches to sit on and admire the view or converse with a friend?

At the Worldcon in London a couple of years ago, the convention scattered benches throughout the Fan Village and other parts of the Exhibit Hall, and asked fan groups to sponsor a bench with a plaque commemorating their group, their bid, or a member of their group on it. This idea was well-received by the fannish community and much fun. M2 is continuing this tradition (it’s been done once, so it’s now a tradition, right?).

We are therefore offering you and your group the opportunity to get your message out, publicize your group, or memorialize a lost friend. The benches we are ordering for the fan fair are a lovely metal bench in a design sure to add to your local con should you take the option of taking the bench home after the con.

There are multiple ways you can participate:

OPTION 1 — Sponsor a Plaque ($150)

Send us your group’s name and/or message and we will have it engraved on a plaque that will then be attached to one of the park benches (see above). If, like many of us, you are traveling to KC from distant lands, the plaques will be removable for you to take home as a memento for the group or person you honored. We will have the plaque made with your message. The plaques will take two lines of text, with roughly 20-25 characters per line.

OPTION 2 — Sponsor a Bench! ($200)

This gets your group’s message on a plaque AND you can take the bench with you when the convention is over as a comfortable addition to your next fannish event. And if you are taking the bench home, arriving during Exhibit Hall set up and decorating your bench in some fannish fashion to make it more memorable is encouraged.

OPTION 3 — Sponsor a Bench AND a Park ($500)

Want more exposure for your group? Sponsor a pocket park along the river! Surround your bench with flora and maybe even some fauna; make it distinctive! M2 will name the park after your group and place an acknowledgement sign in the park which may also contain a custom message (“Come to your party on Friday night!”, “Vote for Trantor in ‘99”, or even “Ygnvie is a Louse!”). With this option, you may again take the bench home with you (along with its plaque!) as well as the acknowledgement sign.

If your sponsor dollars are received early, your sponsorship can be acknowledged in the convention’s pocket program.

For more information, please send an email to:

[email protected] or contact Melissa Morman on FB.

Thank you for your consideration. The more we personalize something as large as a Worldcon exhibit hall, the more fannish the Worldcon is.

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215 thoughts on “Sponsor a Bench at MidAmeriCon II”

  4. If there are going to be plants, some rocket would be nicely stfnal. I’m sure someone here could come up with a better label than “rocket to the Moon,” which is my first thought.

  5. If it’s a very small plant of rocket, it could be Rocket Slip Galileo.

  7. I wouldn’t want the grassy (or “grassy”) bits overlooked in favour of more glamorous plants, so:

    The First Lawn

    Ancillary Sward

  8. I vote for a Thyme Machine, and Gourds! Gourds! Pretty easy to do and obvious references that attendees will get. Liebowitz’ Cantaloupe is also obvious, though I worry it might get nicked by hungry fen.

    I think we shouldn’t use the words “File 770”, being Mike’s trademark, and he’s not sponsoring this madness. “Welcome” also needs to be there.

    “one of the finest parks parking today” makes me laugh. Even if you don’t know where it came from, it’s funny. And “Ancillary Park/Bench” is a MUST. @SciFiMike’s post has good thoughts. @Cassy B’s lines are good, though I’d swap “books” and “recommend” unless we WANT to sound like Yoda.

    That Red Wombat sign also gets my highest praise. It should be near some plants since RW can’t be there to tell everyone about them. It MUST BE.

    Would also be up for a jackalope, if a cheap one can be found or made — real ones are fairly costly. If someone can stick antlers on a cheap stuffed tan bunny, that would do. She can be in the plants. Cheap bunny might be at Goodwill/dollar store along with tea cups?

    If I was going, I could bring new Japanese tea cups or bowls at $1.50 a pop. Since we can’t agree on whether they were Eastern or Western, maybe just go ahead and get both? Other readers probably have different ideas as well. For a small amount of funds, I could buy and ship some cups to ULTRAGOTHA.

    And yes, this can all be on Ancillary Sward (which I guess is in Ancillary Park, or underneath Ancillary Bench).

    (And 5’s. And raptors.)

  9. lurkertype: I think we shouldn’t use the words “File 770”, being Mike’s trademark, and he’s not sponsoring this madness.

    I think that we should ask Mike how he feels about it. 🙂

  10. JJ: I always expected File 770 would be used so that’s not a problem.

    Later I will email you some other comments.

  11. Do we want breakable, and un-drink-out-of-able, tea cups in the park?

    I plan to hit up a Home Depot for some plants (assuming the consensus is for plants) Hopefully after I see what space we have to work with. Not sure where to find gourds, but I love the idea so much I will FIND THEM. And a carrot.

    Home Depot or Lowes has inexpensive plant labels and I’ve got grease pens to write on them. Somewhere.

    I’ve got a little table, too, that I think I can bring. To put books on. I will bring some books to give away, too, but they will be random books I’m culling from our library. Leave a book and/or take a book.

  12. Then we can File away!

    ULTRAGOTHA, August may be late enough that the craft stores might be getting an early jump on decorative fall items. Which includes real and fake gourds. Which reminds me of this classic piece:

    http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/its-decorative-gourd-season-motherfuckers

    August is certainly summer squash season, at a pinch. And you know someone’s going to eat the carrot, so best have extras to put down every day.

    Ooh, I hadn’t considered the breakable tea cup thought. Seems to me that plastic ones in the shape of what we’d consider teacups are harder to find and more expensive than thrift store real ones. Plastic toy tea party sets, maybe? Don’t break, maybe not stolen, and have the advantage of being a set.

  16. Time to replace all instances of “Butt” in Chuck Tingle works with “Beet”…

  19. What, is that our SJW?

    ETA: Do they sell that actually in the store? There are bound to be many Walmart stores near Kansas City.

  20. Hampus Eckerman: SF Kitten Statue

    I’d rather have a cat statue that doesn’t have the lights for the eyes — during the day, they won’t turn on, and at night, if the lights are turned down enough for the parties that it triggers them to turn on, they might be too bright and disruptive.

  21. That…is a really ugly cat. I think I like it.

    On plastic teacups/sets vs. porcelain/china/ceramic, what is the argument for the former? If it’s that plastic isn’t breakable, it is. Plus, I just spent some time looking for and at plastic tea sets and the ones I found are not remotely attractive. Unless that’s the point?

    eta: I really, really like Space Radish Beet Invasion (but apparently can’t remember what I like for more than 30 seconds. Squirrel!).

  22. Meh, I just thought it looked like the header on the webpage of sf kitten.

    There are kind of a lot of cat statues at walmart. One of them had wings. Some potential Glyer Gnomes too.

    Also jackalopes.

  24. I believe OGH specifically asked we not include the wretched hive phrase.

    Park Signs – my vote – on #2 I’m flexible on final wording
    1. “Welcome to Park 770 – The Finest Park Parking Today” https://file770.com +list of sponsors
    2. “File 770 – SFF News, Book Recommendations, Food Arguments, and Tangents” https://file770.com (Oxford comma argument LOL)

    Plaques (2 lines 20-25 characters per line) – I use : to show line break
    Park 1
    1. File 770 Bench: Mount Tsundoku
    2. Rest, read, laud books: Pun, chat, make friends (edited 1st line to keep within 20-25 characters)
    Park 2
    1. File 770 Ancillary Bench: Tea and Books

    Administrative Miscellaneous:
    1. Are all Plaques going home with Mike Glyer?
    2. Benches: JJ researching size/weight: Cat might take 1, Tasha researching where to donate, preference to filers before donating

    For decoration ideas read the entire thread. I’ll try to do another summary soon. My first summary is on page one. I’ve tried to copy comments from other threads over here to make it easier to keep track of suggestions/etc.

  25. Honestly, I don’t see what the use of teacups without tea is, and I doubt we can/will want to have an electric kettle and tea in our parks. Seems to me they’d just clutter any table(s) we had when we could put books there, or people from the consuite could bring snacks out to munch there.

  26. If we’re considering leaving a few books lying around in the parks, how about having a couple of cat and dog baskets on either side of the bench. Label one “Puppy Basket” and throw in a few of Larry, Brad and JCW’s works, and label the other “Kitty Collection” with a few SJW favourites, such as Scalzi and Leckie.

  27. For various reasons which I will not go into, I avoid keeping physical books, and I will have more than a few to “throw into the kitty” for a “leave one, take one” mini-library at Park770.

    I suppose that those people who have somehow come into possession of physical Puppy-poo might want to leave them there… but, really, why? I’m pretty sure that the hotel will have paper recycling.

  28. Having a selection of puppy works available will show we SJW’s are open, inclusive and welcoming to readers of all tastes. And besides, JCW is “…in all modesty, one of the finest writers writing today.”

  29. I’m thinking we should level up the cozy factory. Buy a few battery driven fairy lights or some other decoration to tape round the signs so they stick out a bit more. Get some fake candles and put on a table with books (need a table for that).

    Anyhow, did a quick check on Walmart.

    Other jackalope. Like this one better:
    http://www.walmart.com/ip/Design-Toscano-Death-Valley-Jake-the-Jackalope-Statue/38344691

    And what I thought was a Suck Fairie seems to be an “Adorable Gnome”:
    http://www.walmart.com/ip/Adorable-Reading-Garden-Gnome-Hand-Painted-Statue/49480704

    Kind of fond of this Uni-squirrel:
    http://www.walmart.com/ip/158392971

  30. If we did a puppy vs kitty basket/shelf/whatever, we’d be reinforcing the idea that there are “sides” as opposed to “Puppies” and “everyone else, many of whom haven’t even heard of them”. I think bringing books is a fine idea; Puppies, non-Puppies, whatever folks have spares of, but I don’t see any need to make an issue of the Pups.

  31. If we are looking for books, I have large numbers of duplicates in my collection. I could donate a pile of those to the cause. I’m driving to Worldcon so it wouldn’t be an inconvenience to throw a box in the car and bring it with me.

  32. I’m with Cally. We do books here. Books are great! Puppies, not so much.

    Besides, we only have two 10×10 parks and there needs to be room for people.

    So far I have (tentative, pending approval):
    Whatever Hampus ends up mailing me.
    Books
    Small table to put books on
    Gourds! and a carrot
    Some plants (probably to be purchased locally)
    Plant tags
    Grease pen.

    Who is making final decisions? JJ and Mike?

  33. I started off thinking the parks should reflect the snarky nature of the Filer community, but taking into account various comments here, I think I’m changing my mind and we should not reference the pups.

    I now think the signs and plaques should be welcoming to all, with no comments which could offend. And there should definitely be a selection of old books, and possibly magazines, left lying around the parks.

    @Ultragotha: Don’t forget, you also need to leave room for people in your vehicle as well!

  34. SciFiMike –

    I’m considering buying a roof rack and strapping my wife up there! 😉

  37. Time to replace all instances of “Butt” in Chuck Tingle works with “Beet”…

    Or “How To Convert Space-Dino Porn To Hydroponics Mystery In Three (Or Fewer!) Easy Steps”:
    “‘I didn’t plant it,’ Mariam said. We all stared at it. In a sea of pinky-green foliage its rosette of pale rough leaves stood out like an extra nose might stand out on a person’s face.
    It shouldn’t have been in the tray of Chioggias. It shouldn’t have been on the station at all.
    ‘Biosecurity is gonna have three fits,’ Beverley, our head of hydroponics, said. There was absolutely no denying that. Heads were going to roll, and I was pretty sure they wouldn’t be lettuce.
    I made my decision. ‘Wrap it up,’ I said, ‘and seal it, and box it, and put that box in a box, and seal that. Level five precautions all the way. Until we know where this radish came from, and how, nothing moves on this station. Beverley,’ I said, ‘Salad Bar Night is cancelled.’

  38. Leslie C: Hydroponics Mystery

    I’d support a Kickstarter for that book. I await with beeted breath the details of the investigation into the source of the rogue vegetable.

  42. I giggle every time I see “Ancillary Sward”. Every time, including the time just now that I checked this comment for typos.
    Meanwhile:
    I could see Donovan’s screen from where I sat. The suspect vegetable was there, in frontal, side and overhead views. The annotations lay thickly upon it.
    “We can’t do a full reset-to-algae,” I said. “Not again.”
    “Were you here the last time?” Donovan asked. I wasn’t, of course – that was five years before my time – but I had heard the stories. We stood there grimly for a minute. “We lost a third of our people back then,” he said, “but if Rhea says that’s what we have to do, then that’s what we have to do. She’s the one who saved Cohasset Station during the Bean Sabotage Incident of ’89.”
    I hadn’t known that about our hydroponics head. “That was her?” I said.
    “It was,” he confirmed, “and that was the only station of the five that didn’t have to be bailed out by emergency services. I was with Environmental Disaster Relief,” he said, shaking his head slowly, “when they relieved Marsh Habitat, and I tell you, Jenever, there are things that no air-scrubbers are capable of dealing with.”

  43. Leslie C: rogue vegetable SF story

    I offer 12 quatloos on the Patreon for the next installment of that story. 😀

  45. I’m starting to think I might as well just write the whole story up. I’ve got it stuck in my head now anyway.

  47. 1237 words so far, of which seven are the title and the note immediately below it: “NB: NOT PORN”.
    I like to make that sort of thing clear up front. It seems wise. Also, I just typed “that sort of thong”, so I’m not sure where my subconscious is going with this.

  49. Tasha Turner: Did you make a decision on park signs and plaques?

    I’m really not keen on being the one to “make a decision”. I’d like to hope that we could reach a consensus.

    Mike’s wishes are that we avoid anything related to trolls — which means that “Hive” and “Best Park Parking Today” are out.

    I’d like to see one of the 3 bench plaques read “File 770 Ancillary Bench”, and one of the park signs have “File 770 Ancillary Park” — but there will probably be room for more on that sign (I’ve asked for dimensions). Perhaps “File 770 Park” on the other, and then half of the sponsors’ names on each sign?

  50. I’m a little sad that “finest park parking today” is excluded, but I totally understand why OGH doesn’t want anything associated with trolls.

    I was pondering park-related wordplay, and thought of “Park yourself and read a spell”. Who would be more likely to be reading actual spells than Worldcon attendees? *waggles eyebrows*

    Oh, and JJ, I was silly and thought I had to give my real name when I donated so I made it anonymous. I’m perfectly fine having my nym included.

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