I'm going to
MarsCon in Bloomington, MN on March 4-6. It's a general-interest sci-fi convention, not an anime convention. I haven't been to MarsCon yet, although I know some of the organizers and a number of people who go there. And, of course, I'll be suiting up as the Predator and going on the hunt there. I'd sort of like to have a new costume there to enter into their Masquerade, but I won't have any sort of time to get one done in the next two months.
Anime Detour is our local anime convention, also in Bloomington over the April 1-3 weekend, but I don't go to that. I'm not an anime fan, and I don't have that many friends who go there, so I'd sort of feel out of place.
Minicon is the longest-running science fiction convention in the Twin Cities, and this year their convention is April 22-24. They're more focused on serious science fiction, particularly literature, so I don't go to that one.
My favorite local convention is
CONvergence, held every year around the July 4 weekend. This year, it's June 30 through July 3. Again, it's in Bloomington, MN (a suburb of Minneapolis), in the Bloomington Sheraton hotel. The hotel looks like this:
CVG '07 - 1961 by
P Verrant, on Flickr
OK, that's actually me in a Gamera suit about to demolish a styrofoam replica of the Sheraton. CONvergence is my favorite local convention because it has a lively fan base, all sorts of interesting programming in several tracks, a lot of excellent costumes, and a kick-ass Masquerade. It's worth coming here from out of town.