For those of you who are unfamiliar with Costume Cons, a little background may be in order.  The first Costume Con was held in San Diego, California in January of 1983. At that time many of the established regional science fiction conventions looked disapprovingly at members wearing costumes, so a group of California fans decided to hold a convention for and about costumes. This idea was met with enthusiasm by a couple hundred fans from all parts of the country, and set the pattern for the major activities that are a part of all Costume Cons: A Fantasy & Science-Fiction Masquerade, a Future Fashion Folio & Fashion Show, and an Historic Masquerade. For a detailed write up of the genesis of Costume Con please go to: http://www.costume-con.org/genesis.shtml For pictures from the first twenty-four Costume Cons please click on the "Photos" link on our welcome page.

The committee for CC-27 is probably the most experienced one possible, with committee members who chaired and/or held major positions on the committees of Costume Cons 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 15, 23, and 25. Not only will we be featuring the three mandatory competitions, but we will also have a doll costume contest (borrowed from CC-8) and a single pattern contest (CC-12), and will be introducing a quilt contest. Of course there will be Hall Costume awards, as well as special "theme" awards presented by the con chairs.

Our hotel, completely renovated in 2008, has been the site of "Darkover" for the past 20 years as well as several other costumed conventions, and is not only use to having people in costume occupying their hotel, but is enthusiastically looking forward to our visit. Thanks to the renovation, we will have over 2,500 square feet of vendors space featuring fabrics, trims, patterns, accessories, and hard to find items. We will be using almost 4,000 square feet of the new lobby space for our social area where you can "meet & greet", show off your costumes, see and photograph others' costumes, enjoy snacks from our "Con Suite Serving Area" or get alcoholic beverages from the hotel's lobby bar. The hotel is easily accessible by car as it is located just off I-83 at the first exit North of the Baltimore Beltway I-695. For those people driving in from the West, I-70 ends at the Baltimore Beltway about 1/4 of the way counter clockwise from I-83. The convention rate is guaranteed for CC-27 attendees from April 28th through May 5th, 2009 so there will be plenty of opportunities for you to sightsee and take field trips both before and after the convention.

Baltimore -Washington Thurgood Marshall International Airport (BWI) is served by most major domestic and international carriers. At this time, there is no complementary van service between the airport and the hotel. Shuttle service currently costs between $35 and $45 one way and can take between 30 minutes and an hour depending upon time of day, traffic, etc. Baltimore is also served by rail, and there is a light rail line accessible from both the downtown Penn Station and the BWI train station. The Timonium light rail station is about 1/4 mile from our hotel and there will be complementary van service (O.K., it might be a hearse) between the two.

Tech for the major competitions will be handled by "Techno Fandom" which has been responsible for tech at East Coast regional science-fiction conventions, WorldCons, and Costume Cons since the late 1980's. Our stage will feature a white cyclorama that can be lit to complement almost any color of costume. (No more having black costumes disappear into the backdrop.) Those of you who regularly attend Arisia or Balticon are familiar with the level of tech you can expect. We will be providing details as to the available tech as they are nailed down.

As various other details (side trips, program items, workshops etc.) become firm, we will be posting them on our web site and adding them here. Please check back often, and we hope to see you in May 2009.