Southern California Genealogical Society Jamboree 2016

We're an eclectic group, as we continually remind our readers. One of us is a passionate genealogist who volunteers for the Southern California Genealogical Society in Burbank. She helps publicize their annual conference, Jamboree, which is always held the first weekend in June at the Burbank Marriott and Convention Center, across the street from Bob Hope Airport (which they should not rename.)


This year Jamboree is June 3-5, 2016. DNA and genealogy will be the subject of a special symposium on June 2. With the OJ Simpson miniseries, it's timely. There's lots of free sessions on Friday morning (June 3) for beginners, and some of us are going.
SCGS Jamboree 2016

We love conferences and conventions of all types because they bring together people who have a common interest. We report on Comic-Con and Wonder-Con, book and movie festivals and any where else our members feel like discussing and sharing, so Jamboree is a natural fit. Our member reports she has as much fun in Burbank as she does in San Diego–maybe more because it's not a mob scene. Unlike Comic-Con, things start early in the morning so early risers can get right to it.

From her we discovered genealogists and geek/nerds have something in common. Something most of us would never in a million years have guessed.

COSPLAY! Genealogists actually do cosplay too. 

They even have their own Masquerade. With prizes. 

There are differences. Jamboree's competition is open to everyone and has a theme every year.

One year they honored the 60s (1960s). The winner dressed up like a dancer right out of Hullabaloo. (Kids, if you don't know what that is, ask your elders). Last year it was Dress Like Your Ancestor. Our member dressed like the ancestor who floated down the Ohio River on a flatboat loaded with casks of corn liquor (she still has the walnut chest that held the barrels).

This year the theme is Home Town Pride. Not quite your favorite action hero or comic book character, but there's lots of fun to be had with it. Our member is an Army brat, so she doesn't have a home town. Like the Winchester brothers, home to her was her parents' car, but it's too hard to dress up like a 1954 Ford station wagon with cattle brand upholstery.


We're encouraging her to dress up like a goat and show her pride in her current home town–the one right here on Goat Hill. Or at least wear a T-shirt with our logo on it.

We promised her we'd post a link to the Jamboree site so anyone who's interested can easily find it and register. We owe her a lot, so we're putting it on the top and the bottom of this post.

Southern California Genealogical Society Jamboree 2016