Vulkon Entertainment was a fan run company which specialized in science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

-related entertainment. Vulkon was started by Joe Motes and Ruthanne Devlin in 1986 in Miami. In 1999 Ruthanne sold her half to Joe Motes and retired to Seattle, WA. In 2006 the Vulkon name was sold to Gary and Terri Tripp of Weston, Florida

Weston, Florida

Weston is a suburb of South Florida located in Broward County, Florida, USA. Established as a city in 1996, much of the community was developed by Arvida/JMB Realty and is located near the western developmental boundary of Broward County. It is the most western city in Broward County, and its...

. Typically Vulkon Entertainment organizes five to ten conventions each year in many cities across America as well as science fiction themed cruises.

Vulkon Entertainment from 1996 to 2000 Vulkon teamed up with actor William Campbell

William Campbell (film actor)

William Campbell was an American actor who appeared in supporting roles in major film productions and also starred in several low-budget B-movies, including two cult horror films.-Career:...

 to promote 5 Fantasticon's raising over $400,000 for the Motion Picture and Television Home and Country Hospital, each of these conventions drew hundreds of stars and thousands of Fans.

The conventions were often Star Trek

Star Trek

Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...

-centric, but usually include guests from other shows. The first conventions Joe Motes started were under the name Trekon and held in Miami starting in June 1984 making Trekon/Vulkon one of the oldest and longest-running conventions in the State of Florida. The First Orlando Vulkon was held in October 1987.

Vulkon Entertainment broke new grounds between 1987 and 2007 when Joe Motes and Ruthanne Devlin produced 12 Star Trek / Buffy cruises sailing with 8-15 stars with each cruise under the names Trekruise / Seatrek / Slayercruise.

When Joe Motes retired, he was the second longest-running promoter in America next to Creation Entertainment

Creation Entertainment

Creation Entertainment is an entertainment company located in Glendale, California which produces fan conventions for fans of comic books, and various films and television series, mainly in the sci-fi, horror and fantasy genres. It was founded in 1971 by Gary Berman and Adam Malin in New York....

 promoters.

Vulkon conventions programming included cosplay

Cosplay

, short for "costume play", is a type of performance art in which participants don costumes and accessories to represent a specific character or idea. Characters are often drawn from popular fiction in Japan, but recent trends have included American cartoons and science fiction...

, dances, panels, workshops, game shows, banquets, karaoke, video games, artist alley, a dealers room and has even hosted an actual wedding done in traditional Klingon fashion at the Halloween 2008 show.

Vulkon historically attracted around 1000 to 3000 visitors from all over the USA. However, in the face of the American economic recession of 2008 and 2009 the number of visitors started to dwindle and the choice was made to cancel the first two shows of 2009 which had been scheduled for March of that year. The Vulkon franchise was officially put on hiatus shortly thereafter.

Event history

Dates	Location	Approx. Atten.	Guests