My first Finncon — Turku, 2026

Last weekend I attended my first Finncon. I haven’t been part of the fancon scene but I’ve been hanging around people who have enough to know that con reports are an important part of the culture. I have only read one though: Tero’s report from 2005 Swecon in Göteborg that he re-published in his Egopuu zine’s Jyväskylä 2024 edition. It’s an event I’ve heard so many stories from even with my limited exposure to this world. Anyway, here’s my story of my first con: Finncon 2026 in my hometown of Turku. How did I get here? We need to back up a couple of months. It’s May 7th. The day before was my last day at my then job which had unfortunately turned into quite a miserable experience that was weighing on my mental wellbeing. On this day however, all that misery was distant history: I was teeming with an abundance of energy and wanted to put it to a good use. I had invited aforementioned Tero for an afterwork to catch up with my news and because I knew that having a chat with him over…