About Us

What's this all about, then?

Midfan, in long form, Midwest Fannish Convention, Inc., was formed originally as a mere legal artifact in order to provide corporate cover for Midwest Construction. Once we'd done all the paperwork, we realized that we could do more with the organization than act as a lawyer-baffle and checkbook for a single convention.

In this, we were directly inspired by two other fannish organizations, MCFI and SCIFI, respectively, Massachusetts Convention Fandom, Inc. and the Southern California Institute for Fan Interests. Of course, one of those august organizations is bidding for a Worldcon, and the other is currently running one. Our sights, currently, are set a bit lower.

Why Midfan?

Trying to avoid namespace confusion. Plus, it's shorter to say and easier to remember. Honest.

What's the Midwest, anyway?

Harder question that you might think. The term was originally applied to Ohio and Western Pennsylvania, which were only middling west, while Indiana, Illinois and parts further were just west. As the country moved west, the area covered by the term moved as well.

So, without a canonical definition, we made one up. We define the Midwest as the states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin, and any state touching them (western Pennsylvania comes close enough). Furthermore, we're not strict about it (for example, our definition includes Kentucky, a borderline choice) and if bordering areas consider themselves Midwest, we're willing to go along.

What are you doing?

Well, obviously enough, Midwest Construction jumps to mind. It's a convention dedicated to con running, focused on the midwest. Yes, for those out there familiar with it, we are riffing off SMOFcon. But the drive is shorter, if you live in the Midwest.

Our next project is a fanzine dedicated to con running. You can find more information on that over here.

And, since we liked running a SMOFcon like convention so much, we decided to run an actual SMOFcon. SMOFcon 21 was held December 6-8, 2003, in Rosemont, IL.

We've also got other things cooking. Do you have ideas? We welcome them as well. Join our discussion list or our Facebook group or LiveJournal community and share your thoughts.

So, when are you running a Worldcon?

We have no idea. Honest. If we were bidding one, we'd be certain to say something, since secret bids generally have trouble getting votes.

Updated 26-Aug-2009, webmaster@midfan.org