The club “Fort Weyr” was founded in the late 1970’s by mid-western United States fans of Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern. They chose Fort Weyr because it was the oldest and largest Weyr on Pern, and none of Ms. Caffrey’s stories — at that time — centered on the Weyr.
Fort Weyr produced it first newsletter, the Harper Beat, in 1981. In 1983, the club gathered together for its first Fort Fest, where fifteen personas impressed dragons via a ‘live’ hatching. Fort Fest has been a yearly tradition since 1983 and continues to this day.