IN-PERSON ESCAPADE 35: We Need Your Help

[escapade_team]

 

Dear Escapade family: we need your help.

Many of you can’t make it this year. Our registered attendance is currently in the 60s. Not only does this make us all really, really sad - it could also be catastrophic for Escapade.

Bottom line: we've got to get our attendance up above 100, or the future of the convention is at stake. So we’re reaching out to you, our Escapade family, and asking for help. 

Things you can do:

1. Reserve your room
   
   Less than half of our contracted room nights have been reserved. We’ll end up having to pay a huge penalty if we can’t meet our commitment.
   
   So if you intend to attend and just haven’t reserved your room yet, please do so. This link will pre-fill a three night stay (Thursday, Friday, Saturday, checking out on Sunday) with our group code and can be edited with your choice of dates. If you go to the website directly, please make sure to use our group code: CESRCG. The reservation should be fully cancelable, and you don’t need to pay in advance. 

2. Come early and stay late!
   
   Consider including an extra night in your trip, especially Thursday night. We’ll be running a new event on Thursday evening, The Night Market, and you won’t want to miss it! Staying through Monday lets you hang out at the Dead Dog party and sleep it off afterward.
   
   

3. Invite everyone you know
   
   Please invite your friends to Escapade. If every person currently registered brought just one other person, we'd be set.
   
   The Press Kit can help with spreading the word, but just talking about how much you love the convention on other Discords is a great way to get people interested, too. Some things I’ve said about it:
   
   "Escapade is my favorite convention! I love how warm and friendly everyone is."
   
   "It’s a classic hospitality con with a fantastic con suite."
   
   "The panels are different from any other convention, way more interesting and interactive."
   
   Reach out to individuals and spread the word on social media. It costs nothing and it helps tremendously.
   
   

4. Donate money
   
   If you have the financial resources to help, purchasing rooms or donating towards the purchase of extra room nights helps not only the convention, but the many scholarship applicants. It’s like doubling your effect!
   
   

5. Donate your skills and time
   
   Another great way to contribute is by offering fannish items and services to the auction. If you’ve never missed a deadline on an exchange; if you can write fic, create vids, make art, record podfics, or have some other skill you’re willing to share, please reach out to us!
   
   

6. Donate and get access!
   
   Finally, if you’re one of the many who tragically can’t attend in-person this year, a contribution of $20 or more will get you access to the Escapade 35 Discord when it becomes active. We'd love to see you, and every little bit helps.

In any other year, we wouldn't be on our knees, banging the bell. This is serious.

But it's also doable. With your help, we can not only ensure that Escapade 35 is fun (and solvent!) but also that we have Escapades for decades to come.

Thank you so much for your help. Please let us know if you have any questions or if we can help you help the con.

https://escapadecon.net/escapade-needs-your-help/

Comments

[devilc]

To be frank here -- why the fuck did you pick dates so close to the X-Mas holiday and the start of the school year?

It's VERY hard to ask for time off of work so close to having taken time off for the Winter Holiday Season.

AND, when I registered for my room, I could NOT extend my stay in a room with two queen beds into Monday. It said there was no availability. So I had to switch to a King.

Concom Here

[(Anonymous)]

Hello,

Sorry, I’m having trouble finding my Dw log in information. The hotel priced in LA have been skyrocketing as a whole. We were given two weekend options to pick from, one where concom members wouldn't be able to attend (and thus run the con) and this one. Trying to pick hotel nights for outside the “Dead Last Dirt Cheap” rates were going to cost us several thousand more dollars to run the convention. We thought that picking the first weekend of February would be far enough out that it would work out, since February usually works well. Escapade has had one or two weekends in January before without issue so we didn't think it would be that big of a problem.

Clearly, it is a problem. We’ve already reached out to lock in late February dates for 2026 to make sure this doesn’t happen again and are considering it a horrifying lesson learned.

[(Anonymous)]

We’re reaching out to the hotel to get that fixed. If you email info@escapadecon.org with the name that you used for reg, we can follow up with the hotel reps via email (and cc you for the ride) to get your reservation switched to queens. Thank you for letting us know this has been an issue. We’ll do our best to fix it.

[ride_4ever]

Like devilc said, a lot of fen -- myself included -- could not get the time off so close to the holiday season. I know you can't tailor a specific date to one person, but I want to put it out there that the most likely time for me to get time off from work in February of 2026 is Thursday, February 12 through the following Monday or Tuesday.

[glymr]

Hey ride_4ever!

As noted in the answer to devilc, we were very limited in our options this year. The hotel won't let us pick any weekend we want, only certain ones. We did inquire about even later dates, but they would have had higher hotel rates, which is something we're trying really hard to avoid for our attendees. So we ended up stuck with an earlier than usual (but still February) date. This turned out to be a mistake, and if we are as limited in our options after 2026, we might either have to change locations or choose a date that will be more expensive for our attendees (and likely overlap with other conventions). Each year is different, and all we can do is try to balance everything. I have a lot of respect for Megan and Charlotte; not only did they juggle all these factors for years, but they made it look easy!

Unfortunately, we've already booked the third weekend in February for 2026, the one after the best weekend for you (Feb 20-22). :( While we would have loved to choose the best weekend for you, President's Day weekend is often more expensive and crowded (and sometimes blacked out by the hotel), so even if we'd known sooner, we likely wouldn't have been able to choose that specific weekend. We hope you can still join us, even on a non-ideal weekend. We miss you! You've always been fantastic as the Welcommittee, and so many of us share your love of Due South. We can't choose that weekend, but if there's anything else we can do to make it easier to attend the convention, please let us know!

[ride_4ever]

I do know and understand about the limits of the options the con comm had for this year, and I have all the respect and admiration for Megan and Charlotte. I also understand that any holiday weekend (like the Presidents Day weekend) carries special problems that would make it a no-go in choosing dates. Later February is still a possibility for me, so "here's hoping".

[delibby]

Pretty much, as long as you don't move to mid-May through July, I'm ok with dates. But I do understand why it's a problem for other people. Plus winter holidays tend to be expensive, so two expensive things close together can also be problematic.

Everyone I know is either already going or can't usually for money reasons. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone who can attend.

[glymr]

If finances are holding people back, we encourage you to nominate them for a scholarship, or to suggest that they nominate themselves. Thanks to donations and direct sponsorships, we've able to award scholarships to 17 people so far this year, everything from comped registration to hotel nights to parking help. While we likely can't afford more hotel rooms at this point, we can still help people with registration costs. So please do share the link to the new and improved Scholarship Nomination form: https://escapadecon.net/help-fans-attend-the-con/ with anyone you'd like to help get to Escapade!