Just a little over nine years ago at Arisia, the January following CCXV, I had a relatively brief conversation with Karen and Ricky Dick concerning the mutation of CCXV's web site into an archive of photo entries, competition participants and award winners for the conference. I mentioned that upcoming con committees were asking for historical data, not just fom my conference, but for ones prior to mine as well. I suggested that the site could be upgraded to include a summary for future con committee members, so that they would have a place to point their hotel's managers and sales staff for prior attendance data and references.
Ricky made a comment, the exact wording of which I no longer remember. It was something about making the site "really useful" by giving people a place to look up not just the the hotel information, but the rules of each competition, photos of the entries, and so on.
At the time it seemed to be doable. There were, after all, only 15 Costume-Cons to date. And with CC14's and mine already online, that left a mere 13 more to add.
Little did I know that I would be taking on a project that would last almost a quarter of my lifetime! In the intervening time, I've become a mother of two, launched and closed a web design business and witnessed another nine Costume-Con conferences come and go.
Thousands of scanning/proofing/editing hours and images later, I can say with confidence that I've finally done what I set out to do way back at the beginning of 1998. The results are here for your viewing pleasure. Wherever possible, I have summarized every panel, listed the contents of every Progress Report and Program Book, tried to make sure the information is as complete as possible for the foregoing 24 Costume-Cons.
My baby is all grown up. I couldn't have done it without Kevin Roche and Andy Trembley's help, for setting up the Gallery and making sure it worked the way I needed it to, or the help and support of my friends and family. (A reasonably complete list of acknowledgements can be found on the About Us page.)
As it is with most babies, though, it's time for me to blow this one a kiss goodbye and watch it leave. I am ready to pass the torch I've carried for most of the last 10 years back to Karen and Ricky, who let me run with this project even when I couldn't devote much time to it because of newborns, house moves, or any number of other possible interferences.
I've learned tons of amazing things about this community and the special event we attend annually, wherever it's held. I am constantly awed by the creativity and work we put into our creations. And I'm looking forward to spending Costume-Con 25 as a member of the con, not necessarily a collector of data.
Thanks for your continued support, compliments, corrections and suggestions!
-- Betsy (Marks) Delaney, Web Mistress and Costume-Con Archivist
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