The Later Years

As the number of people attending the our Conferences increased, it became no longer possible to hold them in smaller communities because lodging and conference facilities were not large enough to hold the crowds. An interesting sidelight of the 1955 Fall Conference in Watsonville was that, because of insufficient housing in hotels and motels, the Watsonville Chamber of commerce persuaded non-alcoholic citizens to open their homes to AA members. This created situations which had never existed before nor have they existed since.

Probably in the late fifties or early sixties, since no December programs have been found for this period, discussions at the business meetings began to center on reducing the number of yearly conferences from four to three and to limiting the cities in which the conferences could be held to those cities having adequate hotel and convention facilities. After considerable discussion, the number of conferences was reduced to three each year; and it became policy that, when bidding for a future conference, the bidders must insure that the city does indeed have adequate facilities.

The last NCC Conference to be held in a smaller community was in 1975 in Santa Cruz. An amusing sidelight of this Conference was that the host hotel, where the Conference was being held, put on an additional bartender and two extra cocktail waitresses for the Saturday night dinner. After forty-five minutes without business, the bartenders closed the bar and the cocktail waitresses began to help serve dinner in the dining room.

Tidbits

From the programs that have been found of the early Conferences, some interesting tidbits have surfaced. At the December 1952 Conference, held at the Carpenters’ Union Hall in San Rafael, a meeting of the non-alcoholic wives and other relatives to form an auxiliary of NCCAA took place in one of the side halls. At the same time, in another meeting hall, Dr. Harry Rathburn of Stanford University spoke about “AA Potential”. There were numerous non-alkies participating in our early Conferences.During the October 1958 Conference in Ukiah, not only was there a Saturday night dance in the Exhibition Building but, also, bingo in the Home Economics Building. Do you think that they were trying to attract the seniors with the bingo? It seems, too, that “The Jumping Jacks” were the group of choice to provide music for our dances in the 1950’s.Eureka held three wonderful Conferences in the summers of 1963, 1970, and 1974. The first two were held at the Veterans’ Memorial Building. The Saturday 8:30 PM Open Meeting, however, was held at Redwood Acres, the local Fairgrounds. The 1974 Conference was moved to St. Bernard’s High School which was a larger facility.The 1964 Summer Conference was held at the Masonic Temple in Dunsmuir. “The Jumping Jacks” brought their dance music here, too. Jules P., Panel 11 Delegate, from Los Angeles was, once again, one of the main speakers. Jules has sponsored our own George D. (past CNCA Delegate [Panel 25], past Pacific Region Trustee [1978-1982], and current Manager of our New York General Service Office) for all of George’s sobriety. [George was sober 36 years on October 4, 1997.]The 1966 Fall Conference, held at Chico State College, featured the sixty-minute colored film “Bill’s Own Story”. It was shown in place of the Friday night “Kick-Off’ speaker. The Saturday night speaker was Clarence S. of St. Petersburg, Florida, who had spoken at the 1965 International Convention in Toronto.At the 1971 Spring Conference in Redding, there was a high-powered panel addressing the topic “Why Do We Need a Conference?” The notables included: My sponsor’s husband, Paul V., as Chairperson; and Frank B., Nina S., and Annette F. as panelists. Nina was, also, a panelist at the 1964 Spring Conference in Stockton. She addressed the topics on the General Service Conference agenda for that year.The 1974 Fall Conference was held in Squaw Valley. A “package deal” was offered to attendees. Meetings were held in the Olympic Village Dining Hall, in the Nevada Theater, in the Conference Center, in the Hofbrau, and in the Olympic Village Lounge. No one was admitted to this Conference without a Conference badge; however, people could register and attend without buying the entire package.Early Conferences were, also, hosted in Visalia, Turlock, Vallejo, Marysville, Berkeley, and Richmond as well as in the cities that we have traveled to in recent years: San Mateo, Santa Rosa, Oakland, San José, Fresno, Stockton, Modesto, Redding, Sacramento and Monterey. For fifty-seven years now, these wonderful places have provided the magical environment for all of us to gather, to support one another, to share with one another in love and in service, and to carry the message of hope to all. May God continue to bless us and keep us in His Grace, one Conference at a time, for many years to come.