The Gathering (demo party)

The Gathering (abbreviated as "TG" for short) is the second largest computer party in the world (second to DreamHack). It is held annually in Vikingskipet Olympic Arena in Hamar, Norway, and lasts for five consecutive days (starting on the Wednesday in Easter each year). Each year, TG attracts more than 5200 (mostly young) people, with attendance increasing every year. As of April 2012, The Gathering holds the World Record for fastest Internet connection at 200 Gbits per second.

In early 1991, Vegard Skjefstad and Trond Michelsen, members of the demogroup Deadline, decided that they wanted to organize a big demoparty in Norway. In the late eighties/early nineties, it was common that demoparties (more commonly called "copyparties" at this time) were organized by large demogroups. Because of this, and the fact that Deadline wasn't particularly well known, Mr. Skjefstad suggested that the group Crusaders should be involved. At this time, The Crusaders was one of Norway's most popular Amiga groups. Partly because of their music disks, but also because of their diskmag, the Crusaders Eurochart. At first, Crusaders weren't too keen on the idea of organizing a party, but when Mr. Skjefstad reminded them about the fact that they always complained about the other parties of the same sort, and that this was their chance to show everyone how it should be done, which caused the Crusaders to agree.

After briefly considering having the party during the fall of 1991, it was decided that Easter would be better. All schools are closed during Easter week and the period from Maundy Thursday to Easter Monday are official holidays in Norway. This meant that most of the target audience would have time off to attend TG, and all organizers and crew could work full-time with TG with a minimum usage of vacation days.

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