Balticon Update
Dale Arnold
Balticon 57 Sleeping Room Update:
We are now 5% above making the Hotel Room Block, and there are still rooms left in our block, but the cut-off for reservations at the con rate of $155.00 per night is 05/05/2023. The number of folks making reservations has picked up and is flowing nicely, yet that cut off is racing towards us and the hotel management is not required to extend the block no matter how nice I ask so… if you want a sleeping room during Balticon please act as soon as you can as I am not sure how long we can hold the door. Hotel Reservation info at: https://www.balticon.org/wp57/hotel/ Balticon, the Maryland Regional Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention, will be held May 26-29, 2023 at the Baltimore Harborplace Renaissance Hotel. For all sorts of info about Balticon see balticon.org
Parking at Balticon 57 Has Great Discounts:
We have great discounts for Balticon weekend (Memorial Day Weekend 05/25/2023 to 05/30/2023) so use these discount codes at https://www.balticon.org/wp57/parking/ and save at least 50% even if just visiting Balticon for half a day and even more for longer.
Virtual Con Plans for Balticon 57:
We will be streaming program from 5 of our 12 program tracks/rooms occurring during Balticon and having 2 virtual only program tracks. All in person Balticon Memberships will have access to the virtual con elements and you can buy virtual only memberships if you are sadly not able to attend in person at Balticon this year. See registration at https://reg.balticon.org/
Wine Village at Inner Harbor during Balticon:
The first first annual Wine Village in Baltimore happens during Balticon just 2000 ft from our Balticon hotel down Light Street in West Shore Park. Featuring: no admission charges, local and international curated wines, arts & crafts vendors, German and European foods and family friendly picnic area, traditional wine-garden as well as chill-out seating areas. See details at https://www.baltimore-wine.com/
Masquerade Registration Open Online for Costumers:
If you want to enter your creations in the Balticon 57 Masquerade (costume stage event/contest) you can enter your information online before the con at https://www.balticon.org/wp57/masquerade-rules/ and while there check out the time you need to both register and check-in. Last year we had two fantastic costumes which showed up just a little too late to register/enter and it made me sad the crowd missed seeing this fantastic work up on stage…
Hall Costume contest for Cosplayers still on of course...
Rocketmail Newsletter at the Con:
Again we will have the daily Rocketmail Newsletter at Balticon. The Rocketmail will be available on Paper at the Balticon Information Desk and online during the con at Balticon.org as a link and then preserved forever at http://www.bsfs.org/bconhist.htm after the con. If you have news for the Rocketmail during Balticon then send it to rocke...@balticon.org
Video Gaming at Balticon 57:
The Watertable Ballroom will be divided into it’s three sections as RPG Gaming, Board Gaming and Video Gaming this year. This will be the first year since Balticon 39 (39-57 is 18 years) that we have had a Computer-gaming/video gaming room at Balticon so stop on by and experience classic and new games.
The Maryland State Arts Council, Maryland Department of Commerce, has provided a grant to support BSFS activities including Balticon. To discover more about the Maryland State Arts Council and how they impact Maryland, visit msac.org