The 2020 Edgar Rice Burroughs Chain of Friendship (ECOF) Gathering will be held Sunday, October 11 through Tuesday, October 13 in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin. Guest of Honor is acclaimed comic book artist and Hollywood illustrator Daniel Parsons.
COVID-19 restrictions dictate this will be a small gathering in two large meeting rooms at the Country Inn & Suites located at 1650 Doris Drive. Fort Atkinson is located just 35 miles from Madison or 65 miles from Milwaukee. It’s 100 miles from Chicago O’Hare International Airport.
The gathering is for registered attendees only and will not be open to the public. A limited dealer room with guest speakers will be open on October 11 and 12. The annual banquet dinner will be replaced with dinner at a local restaurant adhering to COVID-19 restrictions. October 13 will begin with a hotel breakfast followed by a tour of the local printing plant where THE BURROUGHS BULLETIN and ECOF organizer and host Gary Buckingham’s new authorized continuation collection, TARZAN: UNTAMED FRONTIERS, are printed.
A special reduced hotel rate of $99 per night plus taxes is available with the code ERBLIT when you call Radisson Reservations at (800) 333-3333 or direct at (920) 542-1600. The reduced rate is guaranteed through September 10 only. Tables are free for dealers, but space is limited for health concerns.
Convention registration includes a membership button, dinner at a local restaurant, a signed and numbered limited edition trade paperback of the new authorized novel, TARZAN: UNTAMED FRONTIERS featuring the bonus short story, “Tarzan and the Secret of Katanga” by Gary Buckingham (former editor of ERB, Inc.’s authorized continuation novels) with a full-color wraparound cover painting (and interior drawings) by 2020 ECOF Guest of Honor Daniel Parsons.
The gathering’s $85 registration fee may be sent via check payable to Gary Buckingham, 5009 Ladera Ct NE, Albuquerque, NM 87111.
(Gary Buckingham’s two-story collection, TARZAN: UNTAMED FRONTIERS — free to all members of the 2020 ECOF — features a color wraparound cover painting and four interior drawings by Daniel Parsons. This year’s ECOF guest of honor, Parsons is an award-winning American comic book artist and illustrator, best known for his work on Dark Horse Comics’ STAR WARS comic books. He has also drawn for HBO’s GAME OF THRONES.
Like many other contemporary creators, Parsons and Buckingham are “Children of the Pulps.” Both have been inspired by the fiction and the art found in the rough-paper magazines of the early twentieth century.
Conventions like the 2020 ECOF help keep alive the spirit of the pulps. Hopefully, the Wisconsin gathering’s safety precautions will keep everyone safe, sound, and more than ready to join PulpFest 2021 from August 19 – 22 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Pittsburgh – Cranberry in Mars, PA.)
