We Shared a Little Bit in Maine for the 9th Annual JemCon on October 4th, 5th & 6th, 2013 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel in Portland, Maine!

JemCon 2013: Share a Little Bit in Maine, was held in Portland, Maine, from October 4th to 6th 2013, at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Portland.

The DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Portland is ideally located two miles from the Portland International Jetport (PWM). This Portland, Maine hotel is just five minutes from all the attractions of Downtown Portland, known as the historic Old Port, featuring shopping, arts and entertainment, fun and historic tours, and a wide variety of food choices. Portland is the home of Portland Sea Dogs baseball at Hadlock Field, Maine Red Claws basketball and also plays host to Portland Pirates Hockey. Visit New England's largest mall, The Maine Mall, right across from the hotel, featuring many shopping choices and a food court. Dine in your choice of restaurants, also within walking distance of the hotel.

JemCon 2013: Share a Little Bit in Maine, was attended by over 50 Jem™ fans from all over the country and all over the world, including attendees from as far away as Holland. Over 20 supporting memberships were also purchased, making this a very successful JemCon!

The convention featured special guests Sharon Knettell (the Jem™ Toy Line Box Artist), Ellen Bernfeld (the singing voice of Pizzazz), Jem song writer, Anne Bryant and the singing Voice of Jacqui Benton, Angela Cappelli. In addition there were fan panels, workshops, dealers, and displays which included the loose Hasbro line, rare prototypes and custom dolls and fashions shown by our members.

Friday evening brought us JemCon Registration and Registration for our first ever JemCon Pageant and Cosplay Contest! Opening Ceremonies and staff introductions led to our catered Meet 'N Greet, with a new twist on our outrageous Jem™ trivia contest; "Synonym Name That Jem™ Tune"!

JemCon 2013 also boasted longer Vendor and Display Room hours and Saturday was no exception with the former opening bright and early at 7:30am, and the latter opening at 9:00am. After a brief "Welcome to JemCon" we held a discussion panel; "The Hologram Dynamic", and a workshop; "Doll Geeking", which were followed by the solo guest panel "Behind The Boxart" with Sharon Knettell. Saturday's second guest panel followed after lunch with Sharon Knettell, Anne Bryant, and Ellen Bernfeld learning a bit about each other as well as educating us in the process! The JemCon Charity auction and autograph session followed soon after and the convention continued throughout Saturday evening with cosplay entertainment with The Jem Project, a very successful Cosplay Pageant and Contest, Jem™ Karaoke, wonderful member performances and disco!

As Sunday dawned, the Jem-fun continued with more shopping followed by a discussion panel; "Integrity Vs Hasbro", and a workshop; "It's Sew Easy". A very moving guest panel, "Music is Magic", came after with Anne Bryant, Ellen Bernfeld and Angela Cappelli composing and performing the first-ever Jem song in over 25 years especially for JemCon 2013! After "composing" ourselves over lunch, yet another discussion panel and workshop took place; "Jem After Dark" and "Hair, Glorious Hair", followed by our final guest panel featuring all four of our lovely guests. Then, the future of JemCon was discussed as Ilana and the gang told us all about how rockin' JemCon 2014 "Truly Outrageous in Toronto" was going to be and we wrapped up the weekend with the traditional JemCon Closing Ceremonies.

The JemCon 2013 Charity Auction raised $1505 for Preble Street of Portland, Maine's Teen Services division, who meets the urgent needs of homeless and runaway youth providing warmth and safety, nutritious meals, clothing, crisis intervention, and overnight shelter.

Sharon Knettell's favorite charity Sheldrick Wildlife Trust earned some much-needed funds this weekend as well. Sharon invited JemCon to hold a special raffle where the winner receives a one-of-a-kind original Sharon Knettell portrait, done in Jem-style, of the winner as the Jem character of his or her choice! This grand gesture earned $1028 towards elephant conservation! Who was the lucky Jem fan? None other than Topher (Mustang7981) from the JemCon Message board!