VCF Midwest 1.0 will occur Saturday, July 30th, 2005 at Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN 47907). This VCF/Lite event is sponsored by the Purdue branch of the IEEE Computer Society, and is being run by Patrick Finnegan, maintainer of computer-refuge. Admission will be $5, to help cover expenses incurred by the event. The event will start at 10am, with speakers on a few vintage-computing topics, followed by exhibits from noon until 5pm.
For more general information about Vintage Computer Festival events, visit the main VCF site. VCF/Midwest 1.0 is the first VCF event in the Midwest area, previous VCFs have happened in California (the main VCF venue), VCF/East on the Eastern coast of the US, and VCFe in Europe. The VCF/Midwest 1.0 is the first VCF/Lite-style event.
This event is going to be a VCF/Lite event. This is a new format for VCF type events, which are more loosely associated with The Vintage Computer Festival organization. This event is a local-community sponsored event, which is recieving help and coordination advice from Sellam Ismail of VCF, but which Sellam is not directly coordinating.
We are currently working on lining up speakers and exhibitors for the event. Any suggestions for speakers, and requests to exhibit are welcome. Send mail to vcfmw@computer-refuge.org if you would like to exhibit, be a speaker, or have suggestions regarding the event.
Bring in your old computers, and we'll try to sell them for you. Like all other VCF's, we'll have consignment sales, where the VCF will try to sell your vintage computer items for you; you'll either go back home with what you came, cash, or something new to play with. A portion of all proceeds from consignment sales go back to the Computer Society to help with event costs.
Vendors of vintage computers and related items are welcome as well to attend, contact us for more information!
Lodging is available at a few different locations, including the Purdue Union-Club hotel or the West Lafayette Hilton Garden Inn (765-743-2100). The Union Club is next door to the event, and there is a city-bus service from the Hilton to Purdue's campus (the hotel is ~1/2 mi from campus and is within walking distance of the event).
Other lodging arrancements are available via the Econo Lodge - 765-743-9661 (same area as the Hilton), and the Family Inn - 765-463-9511. The Family Inn is a couple of miles away from Campus, but also has city bus service nearby. The Family Inn and Econo Lodge both have a large parking lot, with plenty of space for trailers or RVs.
The closest airport is the Indianapolis International Airport (IND), and there is a shuttle service between the airport and West Lafayette, which runs every two hours during the day. Contact Lafayette Limo (765-497-3828) for details.
There's some general information on the Lafayette/West Lafayette area available a Lafayette Online, including Hotels, Dining, Transportation, Events, etc.