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:
The name was actually suggested by John Zimmerman (Guild Librarian around the time of the first Marmalade Dog):
Prior to 1994 the WMGG was known as the "Western Area Role-Players" and the convention called "WARPCon".
Logos The original Marmalade Dog logo was also created by John Zimmerman. 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.
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 Marmalade Dog: Gamefest 94, January 15–16, Special Guests: Troy Denning and Greg Costikyan 1995 Marmalade Dog Gamefest II, October 1–2, Special Guest: Sam Chupp 1996 Marmalade Dog III Gamefest, March 9–10, Special Guest: Bill Slavicsek. 1999 Marmalade Dog 4, March 27, Special Guest: Jeff Easley 2000 Marmalade Dog 5 Gamefest, April 1, Special Guest: Tom Wham 2001 Marmalade Dog 6: Gamefest 2001, March 31 - April 1 2002 Marmalade Dog 7: Gamefest 2002, March 23–24 2003 Marmalade Dog 8: Gamefest 2003, March 29–30 2004 Marmalade Dog 9: Gamefest 2004, April 2–4 2005 Marmalade Dog 10: Gamefest 2005, March 11–13 2006 Marmalade Dog 11, March 24–26 2007 Marmalade Dog 12, March 16–18 2008 Marmalade Dog 13, March 28–30 2009 Marmalade Dog 14, January 30 - February 1 2010 Marmalade Dog 15, March 26–28 2011 Marmalade Dog 16, April 15–17 2012 Marmalade Dog 17, February 24–26 2013 Marmalade Dog 18, February 8–10 2014 Marmalade Dog 19, February 7–9 2015 Marmalade Dog 20, February 6–8 2016 Marmalade Dog 21, March 18–20 2017 Marmalade Dog 22, March 24–26 2018 Marmalade Dog 23, March 30 - April 1 2019 Marmalade Dog 24, February 22–24 2022 Marmalade Dog 25, March 11–13
References
External links http://www.marmaladedog.org/ - The Marmalade Dog website. http://www.wmgg.org/ - The Western Michigan Gamers Guild website.