I've been in http://www.assembly.org demoparty since 1990 which has been one the biggest demoscene gathering in the world. It has been held in Finland and it started in a school's gymnastics hall. :)

Later on as it grew bigger it changed to a bigger place. Finally it ended up in "Helsinki Expo and Convention Centre" which is the biggest and best-known convention center in Finland. Ofcourse the feeling and the ambience of that demoparty changed when it became more commercialised. That's when i stopped going in there. I once got 3rd place in one of the gfx compo's. :) Happy times.

There was always another party outside called Boozembly where you could drink alcohol because it was not allowed inside. :P