Marmalade Dog

Marmalade Dog
Genre Gaming
Venue Western Michigan University
Location(s) Kalamazoo, Michigan
Country United States
Organized by Western Michigan Gamers Guild

Marmalade Dog is an annual gaming convention operated by the Western Michigan Gamers Guild (WMGG) and held on the campus of Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan each spring.

Marmalade Dog is traditionally held in The Bernhard Center (WMU's student union). Exceptions to this were in 1999 (Sangren Hall), 2002 (Ellsworth Cafeteria) and 2006 (Student Recreation Center).

Name

The distinctive name for the convention was given a brief explanation in the 1994 pre-registration book:

Marmalade is the name of this convention's mascot, who happens to be a rather shaggy-looking, part sheep dog, part everything else, mutt who has an affinity for Viking helmets and ammunition belts. We like to think of him as the ultimate embodiment of the universal gamer.
— Western Michigan Gamers Guild, Marmalade Dog Gamefest 94[1]

The name was actually suggested by John Zimmerman (Guild Librarian around the time of the first Marmalade Dog[1]):

The name, I remember, came from John, and he just reminded me that it was almost shot down at the time. It was the name of an (almost) band of a friend of ours, Jason Priess.
— Kevin Wixson, Kalamazoo D&D Meetup Message Board[2]

Prior to 1994 the WMGG was known as the "Western Area Role-Players" and the convention called "WARPCon".[3]

Logos

The original Marmalade Dog logo was also created by John Zimmerman.[4] This illustration was used to brand and promote Marmalade Dog up to and including the 1999 convention. It was at this convention (Marmalade Dog 4) that professional fantasy artist Jeff Easley drew a rendition of Marmalade Dog which he gave to the WMGG.[5]

While the Easley illustration did become the new "official" Marmalade Dog, the classic logo was still used on some convention materials until 2001 and after that on certain WMGG materials. Most recently the Zimmerman dog was used as a repeating pattern on the WMGG photo ID membership cards issued 2005–present.

A new vision of Marmalade Dog has been created for nearly every convention since Marmalade Dog II, however it was not until Mia Paluzzi's illustration for Marmalade Dog 7 in 2002 that all convention materials (web site, books, badges, T-shirts, etc.) began to exclusively use the annually changing image.

Timeline

1994

1995

1996

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

References

  1. 1 2 3 Haken, Susan; Dwayne Haken; John Zimmerman; Andrew Flint (1993). Marmalade Dog Gamefest 94 (pre-registration book). Western Michigan Gamers Guild. p. 23.
  2. ↑ Kevin Wixson (2006-09-26). "Western Michigan Gamers Guild - The Kalamazoo Dungeons & Dragons Meetup Group (Kalamazoo, MI)". Retrieved February 19, 2007.
  3. ↑ Coyt D. Watters (1992-10-09). "Convention Listing Oct/Nov/Dec". Retrieved August 8, 2006.
  4. ↑ Kevin Wixson (2006-09-26). "Western Michigan Gamers Guild - The Kalamazoo Dungeons & Dragons Meetup Group (Kalamazoo, MI)". Retrieved February 19, 2007.
  5. ↑ Isaac Rzonca (2006-04-14). "Western Michigan Gamers Guild (About)". Retrieved February 19, 2007.
  6. ↑ [email protected] (1994-09-14). "Marmalade Dog II Game Fair". Retrieved February 18, 2007.
  7. ↑ Knowlton, Richard (1999). Marmalade Dog Convention '99 (pre-registration book). Western Michigan Gamers Guild. p. 12.
  8. ↑ Brandon Myres (2000-03-22). "[con] UPDATE Marmalade Dog 5 - Kalamazoo, Michigan - 4/1/2000". Retrieved February 18, 2007.
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