Duckon

Duckon (also DucKon) was an annual science fiction convention held every June in the Chicago area. The name is a reflection of the convention organizer's suburban roots, a shortening of DUpage County KONvention (DuPage County being located just west of Chicago).

Duckon is a fundraiser for Super-Con-Duck-Tivity, an organization that has Golden Duck Awards for excellence in children's science fiction literature.

History
The first Duckon was held in 1991. The first three Duckons were chaired by Candis King, wife of Robert King. Duckon 3 was the first year that the convention had a furry track of programming; that furry track grew over the years and eventually split off in 2000 to become its own convention: Midwest FurFest. Since 2003, various people including Chouette, Barbarian, and Robert King have put together a small slate of of furry-related panels at Duckon each year.


 * The 16th Duckon, themed "The Duck Side of the Force", was held on June 8-10, 2007. The guests of honor included author Alan Dean Foster and Laura MacLeod of World Bird Sanctuary.
 * The 17th Duckon, themed "The Maltese Duckon", was held on June 13-15, 2008. The guests of honor were author Elizabeth Bear, musicians Jeff & Maya Bohnhoff, and "mad scientist" GoH Dr. Samuel "Uncle Kage" Conway.
 * The 18th Duckon, themed "A Duck Oddity", was held on June 12-14, 2009. The guests of honor were author Jim Butcher, Loren Damewood, Michael Harrington, writer and musician Seanan McGuire, Sue Blom and Diana Fox.
 * The 19th Duckon, themed "Plan B", was held June 18-20, 2010. The guests of honor were Scott Raun, husband and wife authors Steve Miller and Sharon Lee; and Filk musician Talis Kimberley.
 * The 20th Duckon was held over June 17-19, 2011.
 * Duckon 21 was scheduled for June 1-3, 2012. Being Duckon's 21st year, the theme of the convention was "Finally Legal".
 * Duckon 22 "Fantasies of the Future" (schedule) was held over June 28-30, 2013.
 * DucKon 23 "What if?" is scheduled for June 6-8th, 2014.
 * DucKon 24 "More than Human" was the theme for 2015. However, a decline in attendance and financial reserves led to a crisis and the cancellation of the event in February 2015.

A transition team was formed in an attempt to rescue the convention. However, it was later announced that there was no plan for an event in 2016 due to lack of funds.