The short version of this news– due to circumstances beyond our control, the Milwaukee Paranormal Conference on Oct. 20 at the Irish Cultural and Heritage Center is CANCELLED. The Kraken’s Ball will still be happening the night of Oct. 20 at the Cactus Club. The tours and activities planned for Sunday Oct. 21 will still go forward.

Conference VENDORS who have made payments will be refunded in full next week. People who bought conference tickets will be refunded in full, those who bought conference/ Kraken’s Ball combo tickets will be offered a full refund or a partial refund if they still wish to go to the Ball.

We had saved the Oct. 20 date in the calendar with the ICHC. We were late with some paperwork and when we messaged them to inform them it was on it’s way, we were informed our event had been silently bumped in favor of a wedding. This was very upsetting to us as we have done events with the ICHC for the last three years and were given no warning, head’s up, or even informed after the matter until we contacted them to get the paperwork to them. This was especially disheartening to me (conference director Tea Krulos) as I have already put in countless hours coming up with what I was confident was an excellent mix of 15 speakers, panels, participatory activities, and a documentary screening. Early ticket sales were looking good, too.

This cancellation left us with 3 possible options:
1. Find a different venue for the same date that A.) was available B.) had a set up for a speaking room and a separate vendor hall and C.) was affordable. I think this is a good time to remind people that the Milwaukee Paranormal Conference is bankrolled by one semi-employed person. There is no other group, organization, or benefactor that contributes money. The only incoming funds is from vendor tables (and many of these are comped out free for goods and services) and ticket sales. So there isn’t really funds to throw at a more expensive venue.

2. Schedule a different date. ICHC mentioned they had dates later in November, however, by that point we will be too deep into planning Milwaukee Krampusnacht, which is happening Dec. 5 at the Bavarian Bierhaus.

3. Cancel. We decided to cancel because we absolutely do not want to present you with a half-assed thrown together event.

We will be evaluating things carefully moving forward in 2019. We hope the conference will return, better than ever, but need to reevaluate venues, possibly time of year the con takes place, financial problems, and many more factors.

We are sorry to bring you this news. We put a lot of effort into nothing. We hope to see you at the Kraken’s Ball on Oct. 20, our Oct. 21 activities, and at Krampusnacht 2018 on Dec. 5.

-Tea Krulos
Milwaukee Paranormal Conference Director
milwaukeeparacon@gmail.com