History of the Forever party venues

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{{ _ }} Forever party places by mike/zeroteam            /  \__/
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LaesQ had the idea for this article when he wondered how we got to Sucha nad Parnou. But it would be a shame not to mention the previous party places as well.

Forever has always had a difficult relationship with the party place. There is little willingness to rent the space for three days nonstop, so the organizers have a hard time. The original idea was to use school venues and initially (with one exception) this was successful 5 times. The first Forever was held at the Secondary School of Construction and although the space was great, they didn't let us use it the next year. If I recall correctly, it was due to regular weekend events in a rented hall.

The next edition was held in the Cultural Centre South. The space was found at the last minute and was not very suitable, because the hall was small and the view of the screen was obstructed by columns. I don't know more details. Due to illness I attended for about 10 minutes. In addition, ellvis was serving his country in the army at the time, so his role in the organization was taken over by Pol. The space was next door to the city police station, so the event is also legendary for the photos of Hellboj's hairy arse in front of the police station.

The third year moved to the premises of the Secondary School of Clothing. There were 4 years of the event here and for me it was the golden era of Forever. The hall was huge, the access closed off from the campus and also relatively far away from residential houses. Pols drank hundreds of beers per event there, it was alive nonstop and the turnout used to be huge. As was the case with the Construction School, the Clothing School started a weekend course and thus the event space was lost for good.

As a replacement, the Somer Club was found, or as the locals say the former Merina (Merina was a clothing factory with a history dating back to 1907). It was the last commercial venue with enough capacity and willingness to let us stay all weekend nonstop. Although the interior was already considerably dated and the hall tended to be cold at night, the space was spacious and well suited to the event. It was worse with communication with the owners. After three years they left us on the street without notice, saying that the hall was being refurbished and later arranged a date for the following year. As a substitute, the canteen of a nearby school was furnished, where we barely scraped by. The next year (despite assurances that the date was booked) the hall was sold and the situation of non-communication was repeated. If it's any consolation, the building has been demolished and I honestly don't even know what's there now. Apparently the subject of retro-computer archaeology.

At the last minute, a cultural house was arranged in the village of Horna Suca, 20 km outside Trencin. It is a classic village cultural house, but the locals were willing and supportive of the event. The big drawback was either the state of the electroinstallation or our unpreparedness for the switching power supplies of the Czechoslovak electro-industry. Probably a combination. This led to frequent glitches and crashes of presentation machines. Fortunately, after these problems a power line filter was bought and since then the presentation machines have been running stably. But the event lost all the advantages of being held in Trencin - plenty of accommodation, food and the possibility of nightlife.

After two years we moved from the middle of the village of Horna Suca to the hall of the local Agrosuca enterprise. The reason was again weekend events in the cultural house. The new place had the (din)advantage of accommodation, which was tragically lacking beds and also that we knew the number of available rooms only at the beginning of the event. The interior of the Agrosuca was already considerably dated, although they were slowly trying to improve it. The communication with the owners was excellent. After Forever was over, a date was agreed for the following year and it always worked out. We lasted 8 years and would still be there if Covid hadn't come in.

After the release of the restrictions, we did not get to Agrosuca anymore. Energy prices had risen so much that it was no longer worth heating the hall and all social events were cancelled. Forever's history could have ended there if z00m hadn't stepped in. His wife does the bookkeeping for the municipality of Sucha nad Parnou and they have a good relationship with the mayor, who is also a fan of old computers. And so Forever moved again.

The space in Sucha nad Parnou is great, modern, clean, warm, large screen, good access to Trnava. Unfortunately it is also slightly cramped, but we fit in.

After 22 years, Forever has changed. It is no longer an enthusiast event and the organizers know what to do. They are also working on presentation technology. Image quality issues have been resolved and the sound is being worked on, so the next Forever should be a bit better again. And how long will Forever be organised? Maybe forever.

Finally, a list of Forever venues:

2000 Secondary School of Construction
2001 Cultural Centre South
2002 Secondary School of Clothing
2003 Secondary School of Clothing
2004 Secondary School of Clothing
2005 Secondary School of Clothing
2006 Somer club
2007 Somer club
2008 Somer club
2009 canteen of Secondary Vocational School
2010 Culture House of Horna Suca
2011 Culture House of Horna Suca
2012 Agrosuca Horna Suca
2013 Agrosuca Horna Suca
2014 Agrosuca Horna Suca
2015 Agrosuca Horna Suca
2016 Agrosuca Horna Suca
2017 Agrosuca Horna Suca
2018 Agrosuca Horna Suca
2019 Agrosuca Horna Suca
2020 n/a
2021 n/a
2022 n/a
2023 Culture House of Sucha nad Parnou
2024 Culture House of Sucha nad Parnou

mike/zeroteam