Seattle is Unopposed on the Ballot for 2025!
Site selection for the 2025 Worldcon will be administered at the Worldcon in Chengdu, China, October 18-22, 2023. Seattle filed its site selection paperwork in April which was acknowledged and approved! According to the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS) Constitution, bid documents for opposing bids must be filed no later than 180 days before the opening of the administering convention. No other bids were filed, so Seattle will be the only bid on the printed ballot. We could not be more excited! Supporting memberships are still on sale through our website, and we hope to have strong voter turnout in October.
Our Venue is Open!
Our venue, the Seattle Convention Center Summit Building is finally open! Several of our team attended the opening day event in January, which showcased both the venue and the catering available. The first big fan event was Emerald City Comic-Con in March. Our team returned to shoot footage in April which we hope to debut at NASFiC. We are thrilled with how the building is laid out, and can’t wait to share it with you. Some exciting features include a large number of gender-neutral restrooms, fantastic views, lots of elevators and escalators, easy-to-find rooms with great signage, tons of places to just sit for a minute, and so very many conference rooms of a variety of sizes. Until we see you there in person, here are some photos.
History Corner: Visitors to the 1961 Worldcon Could Have Visited the Space Needle Under Construction
You’ve heard that the first (and only) Worldcon held in Seattle was Seacon, the 19th Worldcon. Visitors to that event in September 1961 could have visited the future Space Needle under construction! The pouring of the foundation for this landmark began in May 1961 and it reached its full height in December, in advance of its dedication in April 1962, less than two weeks before the opening of the Century 21 exhibition, aka 1962 World’s Fair. Curious onlookers would have had to get there by conventional transportation—the Monorail was also under construction at the time. Attendees of the 83rd Worldcon will be in luck—the Monorail entrance is a five-minute walk from our convention site, where more than 7,500 passengers a day each weekend (4,700 on a weekday) take the 3-minute ride to the Space Needle at Seattle Center, which is also the home of MoPOP and the Science Fiction Hall of Fame. The cost is $3.50 ($1.75 for seniors and persons with disabilities)—which is enough to make the Monorail one of the few public transport systems to operate at a profit.
Interested in Being on Staff?
We are hiring staff for convention positions. Email info@seattlein2025.org and tell us about your interest.
Going to Chengdu?
We could use some help representing the Seattle bid at the Worldcon in Chengdu. If you are going and willing to donate some time, contact us at info@seattlein2025.org.
Not making it to Chengdu? Watch for announcements on how to vote in site selection remotely. Barring an unlikely loss to a write-in campaign, we also plan to sell upgrades to supporting members who do not participate in site selection which allow them to purchase attending memberships to the Seattle Worldcon for a similar cost. Stay tuned for more!
Upcoming Appearances
The Seattle bid attended Boskone 60, and had a nice time connecting with East Coast fans in Boston. We hosted a tea party at Norwescon 45, the home convention for many in our bid committee. Upcoming appearances include Pemmicon (the NASFiC in Winnipeg), Worldcon in Chengdu, OryCon 43, and Loscon 48. Come say hello if you’re there, and if you’re inspired, contact us about volunteering to help promote the bid.