"Historicon® 2019 Finds a New Home" Topic

The HMGS Board of Directors are excited to announce that Historicon® 2019 will be hosted at the Lancaster Marriott at Penn Square & Lancaster County Convention Center.

Penn Square Parking Garage next door – 756 spaces
East King Street Garage 1 block away – 448 spaces
Prince Street Garage 1 ½ blocks away – 1,126 spaces

Well hmmm.

That's interesting. I've always wanted to see a bit more of Lancaster. The Saturday Market is supposed to be good.

Thank God. Good job BoD. I'm sure you'll griping (regardless of the venue you chose), but I'm thrilled you were able to find an alternate to the Host.

Yeah for the BOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No More Host and It Mold overlords.

There's another thread about the new venue which is less positive in tone. No matter what choice the Board made, they had to prepared for criticism
I am upset that I might have a decent place to stay and too many dining choices where the food may actually be edible.

Bad Painter, we have always had these same choices when at the Host…….. We elect to get away from the show and hit some of these restaurants already. :-)

I never stayed at the Host, I always stayed at the Cork Factory. The rooms are clean and the food in the restaurant fit for humans…..

Very Positive on this move. Can't wait to try it out!

There's another thread about the new venue which is less positive in tone. No matter what choice the Board made, they had to prepared for criticism
I am upset that I might have a decent place to stay and too many dining choices where the food may actually be edible.

I've found – over the years – that if you want to have a great time, you will. If you want to have a bad time – you will. Kinda like a self fulfilling prophecy.

I've seen the videos – the location really looks nice. The rooms might be slightly more than down Rt.30 – but along the same price as FB.

Personally, I'm going and I'm going to have a good time. When I see the BoD members, I have to remember to buy them a coffee! Kudos on a job well done.

I'm not sure I am understanding this correctly. If you are a guest at the Marriott, is parking in the adjoining garage free? Their website says parking is available for a fee.

Single through Quad Occupancy
$145 USD per Night

Includes Complimentary Overnight Self-Parking (normally $18.00 USD per night) with in & out privileges

Lancaster is hard to get to by plane. Would be better in a place with a decent airport.

JPK

All depends on how soft a landing you want, Oldgrumbler.

145 a night isn't bad. Might have to give this a try.

@OldGrumbler

In which case the price for the space will be a LOT higher…..

Harrisburg Int'l Airport (MDT) is 32 miles down I-283, and there are scads of car rental places available nearby.

Yea I did the Harrisburg thing. It would be nice not to have to rent a car. Maybe Uber is cheap enough to make sense.

OBER / Lyft as a GM with a collection of miniatures and terrain? I can see the drivers face now. But without baggage a possible option from airport to event location. Will have to look into. Maybe a group of gamers rent a shuttle bus or van and divide the cost.

Back in the olden days, BB (Before Baltimore), someone that played in a lot of my games and lives in Lancaster, mentioned that a shuttle bus from the convention center to the hotels along The Host vicinity, had happened at other conventions.

Not sure if this is still something that is possible or if HMGS could afford it. Basically similar to the shuttle at Fredericksburg. It would run to various hotels and pickup and drop you off. Might not be great for GMs but would help with attendees not wanting to park in town.

Even a small charge of something per ride each way would be worth it.

Lancaster airport (on Rt 501, 6 miles north of Rt 30) has smaller jets to Pittsburg, Washington Dullas, even Orlando.

RedRoseTransit.com is the website for the Lancaster bus service. may want to check there, see if scheds and fares make staying in non-downtown motels attractive.

I know that it is popular sport to vilify Pete Panzeri and burn him in effigy over the BCC issue, but one thing he did right was to have the test event at the venue, which identified a number of drawbacks. I think it would be great if we could hold a game day in the next six or eight months so that GMs and vendors can get a feel for the logistics of the venue. As someone who runs 6-8 games per convention, I am much more concerned about the ability to get my stuff to my table for my games and the availability of "club rooms" than I am about room rates and food.

If the room rate is $15 USD USD a night more than the Host, that corresponds to $45 USD USD for the convention. That's not going to break me or ruin my convention. If getting my stuff from the car to the table, ability to leave some things set up overnight, and get my stuff back to the car at the end of the convention are a pain in the neck, THAT will ruin my convention.

Again, I think a one-day game day at the new venue before Christmas would be a good way to identify issues and/or gain acceptance and enthusiasm for the new venue. HMGS has enough money in the bank to put on such a test event.

Sounds promising. Thank you BOD.