Vul-Con

You may be looking for the 1986–2007 convention called Vulkon.
Vul-Con began as a Star Trek: TOS convention in 1973, but branched off into general science fiction after the second con in 1975. By late 1970s, Star Trek was a decided minority of the programming; Vulcon IX in 1983 was listed as "science fiction and fantasy convention".Analog 1982
Aside from Star Trek Con, which was a fan gathering at a public library, the 1973 Vul-Con was the third all-Star Trek programming convention ever. A fan in 1993 called it the second one: "20 years ago, this October, the 1st STAR-CON was held at Cobo Hall, in Detroit, Michigan. This was, I believe, the 3rd Star Trek Convention *ever* held. (the 1st being Al Schuster's New York Star Trek Convention and the 2nd being James Mule's Vul-Con, in New Orleans)" – David Lillard at History, September 26, 1993. However, the second Star Trek Lives! in February 1973 was earlier.
The pause after the first year may be related to the main organiser Mulé being a guest at Benecia 1974. It is not clear when the convention ended: certainly there are newspaper reports of it from August 1986 As listed in Susan R. Gibberman: Star Trek: An Annotated Guide to Resources on the Development, the Phenomenon, the People, the Television Series, the Films, the Novels, and the Recordings, frequent guest Stocker wrote "held in New Orleans for 14 consecutive years, with a Star Trek emphasis"Chemistry and Science Fiction, 1998 and there are even mentions of it running as late as 1990 (with pauses, though this may be confused with another con).
== 1: 1973==
Vul-Con I 1973 was held in June 21-24, 1973 in New Orleans at the Jung Hotel. 
The concom was James G. Mulé (also typed as Mule'), Mrs. Lynne Norwood, Peter Bezbak, Dean and Mary Sweatman, Robert Taggert, Mary Beth Schrieb, Dany and Mary Frolich, Nancy Mayberry, Rick Norwood, and Dennis Dolbear.
The Guests of Honor were Gene Roddenberry, Majel Roddenberry, Dorothy Fontana (toastmistress), Ruth Berman, David Gerrold. Early promoted as "possible guests" were Gene Coon and George Takei. From a con report below, it sounds as if Myrna Culbreath was also there. 
The raffle plan was to sell 600 tickets at a dollar a piece. Concom members were limited to buying three tickets, but everyone else could buy as many as they wanted. From the second progress report: 
From the second progress report: 
From the second progress report: 
From the second progress report: 
* there was an ad for it in A Piece of the Action #1 (February) 
* a con report by B. Gibbons appears in Hailing Frequencies
* a con report by Margaret Basta appears in Star-Borne #8
* a con report by Helen Young appears in Space-Time Continuum #3
* some con reports in A Piece of the Action #5
* From Star Trek Lives!: "At Vul-Con I, we heard Gene Roddenberry introduce Myrna Culbreath to the convention and speak of her Spock Premise article as 'brilliant... the best analysis of Spock ever done... required reading for all Star Trek fans'."
Image:vulconflyer.jpg|flyer for the 1973 con
Image:vul-con1.jpg| Cover of the 1973 Program Book, with guests' signatures
Image:Vulcon.jpg|cover of 1973 Vul Con second progress report, 20 pages, cover and interior art by Dany Frolich. Other art by Doug Herring and Nancy Mayberry
Image:vulcon1-1.jpg|centerfold from the second progress report; it was supposed to have been the cover but it was "too large"
Image:vulcon1-2.jpg| from the second progress report
Image:vulcon1-3.jpg| from the second progress report
Image:vulcon1-4.jpg| from the second progress report
Image:vulcon1-5.jpg| from the second progress report
 
File:APOTA-1.jpg| from A Piece of the Action #5
File:APOTA-2.jpg| from A Piece of the Action #5
Image:vulcanhailing-1.jpg|from Hailing Frequency #3
Image:vulcanhailing-2.jpg|from Hailing Frequency #3
Image:vulcanhailing-3.jpg|from Hailing Frequency #3 
===Con Reports: 1973===
== 2: 1975==
Vul-Con II was held in New Orleans on May 29 – June 1, 1975. There was an ad for it in A Piece of the Action #13. 
The Guests of Honor were Nichelle Nichols and Arlene Martel.
 
A con report by J. Butler appears in Star Trek Today #6.
Bjo Trimble wrote much later: "Vul-Con II lost money due to lots of recession talk & several hurricane warnings that kept fans away (the weather was delightful, & so was New Orleans which is a weird & wonderful city!"Collected in On the Good Ship Enterprise
The Program Book contained: Photos from past Star Trek conventions. Art by Dany Frolich and others (including a centerspread of Spock looking at a Vulcan centerfold). Transcript of Gene Roddenberry's talk at Baton Rouge March 25, 1975 (16 pages, including photos of Gene and Majel). Transcript of press interview with De Kelley and Leonard Nimoy at Tulane University on April 25, 1975 (13 pages, plus additional pages of photos).
File:Vulcon2flyer.jpg| flyer for the second Vul-Con, 1975
File:Vul-con.jpg|cover of Vul-Con 2, 1975, 6 7/8 x 8 3/8, 68 pages. Note the soon-abandoned use of a photo from the series. 
File:Vulcan2costumephoto-1.jpg|some of the costumes at the con, one is of the con chair (photos were printed in the 1976 con program book)
File:Vulcan2costumephoto-2.jpg|some of the costumes at the con (photos were printed in the 1976 con program book)
File:Vulcan2costumephoto-3.jpg|some of the costumes at the con (photos were printed in the 1976 con program book)
File:Vulcan2costumephoto-4.jpg|some of the costumes at the con, shows a mural by Kathy Betterton (printed in the 1976 program book)
File:Vulcan2costumephoto-5.jpg|some of the costumes at the con, one shows Arlene Martel's children (printed in the 1976 program book)
File:VulConII1972c.jpg| wikipedia:William Ware Theiss, costume designer, signing autographs at Vul-Con II (photograph c/- Kim Bennett)
File:VulConII1972f.jpg| Actor :wikipedia:Arlene Martel (GOH), her two children, Avra and Jodaman, and fan Kim Bennett at Vul-Con II. (photo c/- Kim Bennett)
===Con Reports: 1975===
 
==3: 1976==
Vul-Con III was held in New Orleans August 20-22, 1976 at the International American Hotel. It was billed this year as a "Science Fiction, Star Trek, and Fantasy Convention."
The concom: James Mulé, Jan Luke, Richard Majeste, Beverly Traub, Joseph Grillot.
The Guests of Honor were Frank Kelly Freas and Grace Lee Whitney.
The program book had 22 pages, five of which were photos from 1975's Costume Contest.
There is an ad in the program book for the New Orleans Science Fiction Association and a con they were hosting: No-Con. There was also an ad for the New Orleans chapter of Society for Creative Anachronism.
From the program book: "You may now order slides or photos of the famous Kathy Betterton Star Trek murals. VUL-CON is the ONLY official agent of Ms. Betterton, so if you buy from VUL-CON you will assure the artist of her commission. Come see the slides on display."
Image:vulcon1976programbook-1.jpg|from the 1976 program book
Image:vulcon1976programbook-2.jpg|from the 1976 program book
Image:vulcon1976programbook-3.jpg|from the 1976 program book
Image:vulcon1976programbook-4.jpg|from the 1976 program book
Image:vulcon1976programbook-5.jpg|from the 1976 program book
Image:vulcon1976programbook-6.jpg|from the 1976 program book
Image:vulcon1976programbook-7.jpg|from the 1976 program book
Image:vulcon1976programbook-8.jpg|from the 1976 program book
Image:vulcon1976programbook-9.jpg|from the 1976 program book
===Con Reports: 1976===
==4: 1977==
==5: 1978==
Vul-Con V was held August 11-13, 1978 at the Grand Hotel in New Orleans. 
The concom: Jan Luke, Beverly Traub, Richard Majeste, Mike Swan, Gee Busar, Burt Carey, Joe Grillot, and Kay Johnson.
The Guests of Honor were Shawn Bishop (actor who portrayed the oldest child in Close Encounters of the Third Kind), Wayne McAllister (employee of Boeing Aircraft who worked on the space shuttle), Dr. Jack Stocker (chemistry professor and expert on the history of science fiction), George Alec Effinger ("went to the same high school as Andre Norton and Roger Zelazny, is a writer").
From the program book: 
===1978 Program Book===
The disclaimer on the program book: "© 1978 by VULCON. All rights reserved, all over the place; this means you, do not pass go, do not collected $200. And remember, when the foo-bird sh-ts, wear it."
 
The program book is 46 pages. The art is by Jan Luke, Richard Majeste, Mike Swan, Dany Frolich, Beverly Traub, and Ken Hafer. There is also much art by Gerry Downes; it is unknown if it was printed with permission. 
* Welcome (3)
* Guest of Honor: Shawn Bishop (13 year old actor who portrayed the oldest child in the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind) bio and full-page photo (6)
* Hotel Map (8)
* Nasa Exhibit ("Through the conscientious efforts of Mrs. Lorraine Marthet, the Michoud Test Facility has once again loaned us a NASA model exhibit. Do you remember the thrill and awe you experienced as you gazed up at our moon and realized there were two men walking around up there? Well, we've got a model of the beast that got them there and back again — none other than Michoud's baby, the Saturn V. Besides other models, we've also gotten the shuttlecraft. 'Enterprise' (catchy name!?) Come take a look at our space exploration heritage and future, because some of you may one day be shuttlecraft pilots! (NASA is hiring, you know!) The NASA exhibit is open to the public.") (10)
* Guest of Honor: Wayne McAllister (employee of Boeing Aircraft who worked on the space shuttle) (11)
* Huckster Room (12)
* Guest of Honor: Dr. Jack Stocker (chemistry professor and expert on the history of science fiction) (13)
* Guest of Honor: George Alec Effinger (went to the same high school as Andre Norton and Roger Zelazny, is a writer) (14)
* Art Show (15)
* Banquet, Volunteers (16)
* Laser Gun Raffle (17)
* Star Wars: Book Vs. Movie, article by Bev Traub (18)
* General and Movie Schedule (22)
* ad for The Fourth World Fantasy Convention (24)
* Costume Ball (25)
* And Now For... (25)
* Their Force Is With Us, article by , article by Jan and Greg Luke (26)
* A Brief, Non-Techical Description of Special Effects in the Cinema, article by Joseph G. Grillot, Jr. (28)
* Yes... There is Going to Be a Movie, about the Star Trek movie, article by Kay Johnson (36)
* ad for New Orleans Science Fiction Association (42)
* Film Reviews (43)
* The Search, fanwork by R. Strother (44)
Image:vulcon1978con-1.jpg|from the 1978 program book
Image:vulcon1978con-2.jpg|from the 1978 program book
 
Image:vulcon1978con-4.jpg|from the 1978 program book
Image:vulcon1978con-5.jpg|from the 1978 program book
Image:vulcon1978con-6.jpg|from the 1978 program book
Image:vulcon1978con-7.jpg|from the 1978 program book
Image:vulcon1978con-8.jpg|from the 1978 program book
Image:vulcon1978con-9.jpg|from the 1978 program book
Image:vulcon1978con-10.jpg|from the 1978 program book
Image:vulcon1978con-11.jpg|from the 1978 program book
Image:vulcon1978con-12.jpg|from the 1978 program book
Image:vulcon1978con-13.jpg|from the 1978 program book
==References==
Category:Star Trek Conventions
Category:Star Trek TOS Conventions
Category:1973 Conventions
Category:1975 Conventions
Category:1976 Conventions
Category:1977 Conventions
Category:1978 Conventions
Category:Conventions in United States