ICON-History

Looking for the upcoming Iowa's ICON SF Convention usually in October - go to https://iowa-icon.com/  


ICON 1 timeline aka ICON creation


Jan 1975 - Linguistics prof Larry Martin and MFA student Joe Haldeman team-teach a class on science fiction literature. The Deadwood bar - at that time in one of the Clinton Street trailers - was the place for our weekly after-class time.


Mar 1975, Easter weekend - a ‘field trip’ to a regional science fiction convention in Minneapolis. Right after that we thought maybe we could put on a small convention ourselves. 


During that spring semester students in the class and our friends form a student club - the Science Fiction League of Iowa Students. Plans are made for a small science fiction convention at a hotel in Coralville at the end of October. 


Summer 1975 - Two of the class students (Greg Frost and Bill Johnson) along with Larry Martin (as a student) and Joe Haldeman (as a teacher) attend a six-week science fiction writing workshop in East Lansing, Michigan known as Clarion. SF author Roger Zelazny, another teacher at Clarion, was invited to be the ICON 1 guest of honor. 


Fall 1975 - final plans and preparations for the ICON 1 convention go into high gear. 


Halloween weekend, 1975 - ICON #1. Run by students with advice and guidance from Joe and Gay Haldeman and their longtime friend Rusty Hevelin, the convention is successful enough to have a second convention the next year. 


Rusty Hevelin, by the way, had attended the very first World Science Fiction Convention in New York City in 1939, 33 years before ICON 1. On his passing, Rusty donated his collection of SF magazines and fan writings to the U of Iowa libraries, an amazing resource for those studying the history of science fiction writing in the US. 


In later years, one of Joe’s students from that class at the U of Iowa, Bill Johnson, and Joe Haldeman won Hugo awards at the World Science Fiction convention in 1998. By that time, Joe Haldeman had won several Hugo awards, but it was Bill Johnson’s first and only. Sadly, Bill passed away in March 2022. 


Joe and Gay Haldeman plan to attend this year’s ICON in Cedar Rapids October 14-16, 2022.


If you go to downtown Iowa City, Joe Haldeman has a marker on the Iowa City “Lit Walk,” along with ICON’s current guest of honor Nicholas Meyer. 

History by year

1 - 1975 October 31-November 2 -SkinnyCon - Iowa City, Iowa

2 - 1976 November 5–7 -Destructocon - Coralville, Iowa

3 - 1977 October 28–30 - - Coralville, Iowa

4 - 1979 November 9–11 -DisasterCon - Coralville, Iowa

5 - 1980 November 7–9 - - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

6 - 1981 October 30-November 1 -first appearance of Trans Iowa Canal Company - Coralville, Iowa

7 - 1982 November 5–7 - - Coralville, Iowa

8 - 1983 October 21–23 -L-Con - Coralville, Iowa

9 - 1984 October 26–28 - - Coralville, Iowa

10 - 1985 October 25–27 -SFLIS Family Reunion - Coralville, Iowa

11 - 1986 October 24–26 -Habittrail Con - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

12 - 1987 October 16–18 -Money-Grubbing Capitalist Con - Coralville, Iowa

13 - 1989 January 20–22 -Beauty and the Beast Con-within-a-Con - Coralville, Iowa

14 - 1989 October 13–15 - - Coralville, Iowa

15 - 1990 September 28–30 - - Coralville, Iowa

16 - 1991 October 12–14 -GinCon aka BlondeCon - Coralville, Iowa

17 - 1992 October 7–9 -Escape the Mundane CruiseCon, StressCon - Coralville, Iowa

18 - 1993 October 8–10 -Pirats of Phenzance, BarneyCon - Coralville, Iowa

19 - 1994 October 14–16 -One Last Teen Fling - Coralville, Iowa

20 - 1995 October 6–8 -ICON Goes Platinum - Coralville, Iowa

21 - 1996 October 11–13 -ICON Comes of Age - Coralville, Iowa

22 - 1997 October 10–12 -Catch 22 - Coralville, Iowa

23 - 1998 October 16–18 -"Working Today For A Better Tomorrow, Fnord" - Coralville, Iowa

24 - 1999 October 29–31 -efiL fO gninaeM ehT, The Return of HabitrailCon, Seat of Our Pants Con - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

25 - 2000 October 13–15 -Prodigal Son - Coralville, Iowa

26 - 2001 October 12–14 -Hey, nice hotel! - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

27 - 2002 October 18–20 -Carrot Juice - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

28 - 2003 October 10–12 -Cheesy Poofs - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

29 - 2004 October 8–10 - - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

30 - 2005 October 28–30 [6] -' - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

31 - 2006 October 13–15 -Gallium: The Other Soft Metal - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

32 - 2007 November 2–4 -Rise of the Phoenix - Coralville, Iowa

33 - 2008 October 31-November 2 -Horror/Halloween - Coralville, Iowa

34 - 2009 October 23–25 -Adventures in the Secret Kingdom of Fandom - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

35 - 2010 November 5–7 -A Steam-Powered Convention of the Future - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

36 - 2011 October 28–30 -Genre Fusion: When Worlds Collide - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

37 - 2012 November 2–4 -The Convention at the End of the Universe - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

38 - 2013 November 15–17 -Recalling 1013 - The Year When Nothing Happened - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

39 - 2014 October 31 - November 2 -League of Extraordinary Gentlefen - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

40 - 2015 October 16-18 -Con of Futures Past - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

41 - 2016 October 28-30 -Back to the ICON - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

42 - 2017 September 29 - October 1 -Hitchhikers Guide to ICON42 - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

43 - 2018 October 5-7 -Eruption - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

44 - 2019 November 1-3 -Unpacking Non-Binary Reality - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

45 - 2020 October 9 to 10 - V-ICON: The Year ICON Went Virtual - Online only

46 - 2021 October 15 to 17 - Seeking Further Horizons - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

47 - 2022 October 14 to 16 - The Prime Universe - Celebrating How Alternate Universes Intersect With Ours - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

48 - 2023 Oct 13 to 15 - We only work in outer space!

49 - 2024 Oct 18-20 - New Horizons

50 - Fall 2026 Celebrate 50 years of ICON