A Letter To The Blythe Community

Dear Blythe Community,

We would like to first of all, thank those of you already committed to attending our Seattle BlytheCon this year--vendors and attendees alike. Without you, there would be no BlytheCon. The four of us planning the Seattle BlytheCon are 100% committed to producing a fantastic convention for everyone and are very excited to welcome you to our city.

Planning and organizing each BlytheCon begins with a group of organizers committing personal time, money and effort to produce a convention. We realize what occurred at last year’s BlytheCon in New York was very unfortunate and we understand that people have questions. To help assure everyone in the community that what happened in New York does not happen in Seattle, we would like to address how we are managing and operating our BlytheCon and hope this provides clarification.

To begin with, as of 1/31/14, we have completely paid for the venue (Fisher Pavilion) which is managed through the City of Seattle. There are no outstanding deposits owed. We have requested a letter from Fisher Pavilion confirming we are paid in full which we will post once received. The space is all ours on Saturday, August 2, 2014!

The four of us are committed to running our BlytheCon as a business--it has to be run this way because we alone are taking on all of the risks. There are contracts, deposits, insurance, permits, registration and event administration that all go into producing a professional and successful convention. We are presently not asking for any financial donations to help with con expenses as we hope ticket sales will cover these costs. That said, this is still more personal for us than business. We are very happy and honored to do this, as we love Blythe and this amazing community that we have been a part of for many years now.

WHAT MY $50 TICKET PRICE COVERS: 
The ticket price is designed to cover our BlytheCon expenses which are outlined below. All percentages are estimated based on an anticipated 300 attendees (to date, 142 attendees are registered to attend):
35% Venue (facility rental, tables, linens, chairs, audio/visual, set-up, security)
16% Administrative Costs (website hosting/domain registration, insurance, wireless access at event, permits, transaction fees from PayPal and Brown Paper Tickets, taxes, vendor/volunteer/staff supplies/food/refreshments, artist fees, comps for special guests, printing of signage, banners and event programs)
10% Decorations (table decorations, balloons, etc.)
26% Giveaways (goodie bag items, lanyards/name badges, postcards, stickers, buttons, etc.)
13% Miscellaneous BlytheCon Expenses (Venue damage deposits, unforeseen expenses, compensation for personal and professional time spent producing BlytheCon)

HOW THE RAFFLE WILL BE RUN: 
Similar to previous BlytheCons (except NY), we hoped to sell additional raffle tickets in support of two community charities; Northwest Harvest and The Seattle Animal Shelter. Unfortunately, per the Washington State Gambling Commission, we do not fall in the classification of organizations permitted to conduct raffles--even if all the proceeds are given to charity.

Many of the amazing people in our community that have already committed to donating to the raffle loved the idea of donating to local charities and helping to feed volunteers. We sincerely apologize for this change and hope you are not too disappointed. Please know your donation is bringing a huge amount of joy to all of the attendees at BlytheCon through your generosity and support. Volunteers, vendors and special guests will still receive food and refreshments as well as comps.

Each attendee will receive ONE raffle ticket in their BlytheCon goodie bag and NO additional tickets will be sold. The raffle will remain one of the most fun highlights of the convention thanks to the donations of our community members.

BLYTHECON MERCHANDISE:
Please check back for further announcements about BlytheCon merchandise featuring our beloved Dr. Blythenstein's amazing artwork for the Seattle BlytheCon. We will be working out all the arrangements directly with J.J. and will have more information soon.

Please know, our first priority is to provide all attendees with the best experience possible. We have been working very hard over the past two years and have so many fun and exciting surprises in store for you! The four of us have been and will continue to devote hundreds of hours to organize this BlytheCon because we love Blythe and this community.

It is worth noting that we have amazing vendors attending this year, fantastic Blythe artists participating in the raffle and we have some really fun plans for gift bags and photo opportunities. Our venue, Fisher Pavilion, is spacious, airy, gorgeous and located underneath the Space Needle, Seattle's quintessential landmark. And finally, we are so thrilled to have Dr. Blythenstein design our logo--plan on seeing a lot of his charming designs at our BlytheCon. Thank you and we look forward to seeing you in Seattle!!

Sincerely,
Diem, Brian, Valerie, & Sara
Your Seattle BlytheCon Team