MidAmericon
| MidAmeriCon, the 34th World Science Fiction Convention | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Venue | Muehlebach Hotel and Phillips House |
| Location(s) | Kansas City, Missouri |
| Country | United States |
| Inaugurated | September 2–6, 1976 |
| Attendance | 3014; total membership 4200 |
| Organized by | Science Fiction Conventions of Kansas City, Inc. |
| Filing status | 501(c)(3) non-profit |
The 34th World Science Fiction Convention carried the official name MidAmeriCon (abbreviated as MAC) and was held September 2–6, 1976, in Kansas City, Missouri, United States, at the Radisson Muehlebach Hotel and nearby Phillips House hotel. The convention committee was chaired by Ken Keller, who had also chaired the "KC in '76" bid. There were 4200 registered members of the convention, of which 3014 actually attended.
The professional Guest of Honor at the 34th Worldcon was former Kansas Citian Robert A. Heinlein. He did not prepare a formal guest of honor speech, as such, but gave a generally well received one, immediately following the convention's Hugo Awards ceremony at the nearby Art Deco-inspired Music Hall section of the Kansas City Municipal Auditorium. Heinlein came with an alarm clock and put it on his center stage podium and spoke casually until his own preset time period ended with the alarm going off. Heinlein was previously the Guest of Honor at the 3rd Worldcon (1941) and the 19th Worldcon (1961). He remains the only science fiction writer honored three times by the annual World Science Fiction Convention. Heinlein attended many MidAmeriCon events, including a blood donation drive and later donor reception held at the nearby Hotel Continental, one of the Worldcon's overflow hotels. Being someone with a very rare blood type, Heinlein had organized the blood drive and reception to honor those anonymous donor's who had donated blood, saving lives during surgeries, including his own earlier in the decade.
Longtime fan artist George Barr was the convention's Fan Guest of Honor. He created the convention's official black-and-white logo artwork and painted the full-color wrap-around dust jacket artwork used on the convention's hardcover program book. His hardcover art book, Upon the Winds of Yesterday from Donald F. Grant, Publisher, made its debut at MidAmeriCon.
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