Anthrocon

From WikiFur, the furry encyclopedia.

Jump to: navigation, search
Anthrocon
Albany AnthroCon 1997
Albany AnthroCon 1998
Anthrocon 1999
Anthrocon 2000
Anthrocon 2001
Anthrocon 2002
Anthrocon 2003
Anthrocon 2004
Anthrocon 2005
Anthrocon 2006
Anthrocon 2007
Anthrocon 2008
Anthrocon 2009
Anthrocon 2010
Anthrocon staff
Anthrocon guests of honor

Anthrocon is the world's largest furry convention, averaging an attendance of over 2000 in recent years. It is usually held each July in Pennsylvania.

Contents

[edit] Background

The convention was founded in 1997 as Albany AnthroCon, itself an offshoot of the Furry Halloween parties held by Aloyen Youngblood; when attendance pushed triple digits, he decided to book a hotel, and organized it as a convention in 1997 with the aid of local friends Points, Rigel and others.

In late 1998-9 the chairmanship of the convention was transferred to Dr. Samuel Conway by Points, and they formally organized the group as Anthrocon Inc. and moved it to the more cosmopolitan Philadelphia area. Its first venue was the Hilton Valley Forge, but due to rapidly increasing membership numbers it was forced to relocate to the larger Adams Mark Hotel in 2001.

Attendance continued to grow: Membership in 2003 was announced as 1,949; by 2004 it was 2,406. Attendance in 2005 dropped slightly to 2,373, due in part to higher parking fees, a different and unfamiliar hotel (the Wyndham Franklin Plaza in downtown Philadelphia), and possibly due to Hurricane Dennis's effect on the southern United States which closed many airports and prevented people from traveling.

Attendance in 2006 was a record-breaking 2,489, making it the world's largest furry convention. Attendance in 2007 was even higher at 2,849.

Since 1997, the Anthrocon Charity Auction has raised more than $62,000 for animal-related charities.

Security for the convention has been provided by the Dorsai Irregulars since 2002.

[edit] Current location and timeslot

Due to the unforeseen sale and closure of the Adam's Mark Hotel in November 2004, Anthrocon chose the Wyndham Franklin Plaza in Philadelphia as the site for its 2005 convention. In 2005, Anthrocon announced that they would be moving to the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for the 2006 convention. Due to scheduling conflicts, the convention had to temporarily leave its normal July timeslot and was held June 15-18 in 2006. The 2007 convention will be held July 5-8 at the same location.

A 2007 move to Pittsburgh was actually envisioned by Anthrocon's Board of Directors before the sale of the Adam's Mark Hotel took place, due to Anthrocon's increasing attendance. Anthrocon began soliciting people's opinions about moving to Pittsburgh in October 2004. At the time, the convention was already too big for any affordable hotel in Philadelphia, and the Adam's Mark had the most convention space of any hotel of its size in the city before its demolition. The closing of the Adam's Mark simply moved those plans up a year.

While some were opposed to the move, most were supportive of it. Many attendees who supported the move lived so far away from Pennsylvania that the move made little difference to the trip there.

[edit] Current leadership

The chairman of the convention, Dr. Samuel Conway (nicknamed "Kagemushi" or "Uncle Kage" among attendees), oversees the operations of the Anthrocon with the help of staff and a number of volunteers who donate their time and energy throughout the weekend to assist the multitude of small tasks which arise.

The rest of the Board of Directors includes:

[edit] Guests of Honor

Past Guests of Honor have included:

[edit] Typical programming

The fursuit parade at Anthrocon 2005
The fursuit parade at Anthrocon 2005
A photo of the fursuit dance at Anthrocon 2005.
A photo of the fursuit dance at Anthrocon 2005.

[edit] Themes

  • 1997: An East Coast Furry Convention
  • 1998: Here There Be Dragons
  • 1999: Join the Furry Revolution
  • 2000: Furries of Myth and Legend
  • 2001: Furries in Flight
  • 2002: Inventions
  • 2003: Creatures of the Night
  • 2004: Summer Games
  • 2005: Heroes
  • 2006: Making History
  • 2007: Looking To The Future
  • 2008: It's a Jungle Out There

[edit] Charities

Every year, Anthrocon chooses a local charity that is animal related to be the beneficiary of its charity auction.

Past charities, and amounts raised:

[edit] Incorporation and trademarks

Anthrocon, Inc. was incorporated as a non-profit organization on 25 June 1998 and registered as a 501(c)(7) social and recreation club in the state of Pennsylvania (entity 2823650). This classification differs from the 501(c)(3) status of Midwest Furry Fandom and Anthropomorphic Arts and Education - most notably, donations are not tax-deductible to their donors, but in return the company has more flexibility about its operations, and more leeway to restrict access to non-members (in fact, it is expected to, as otherwise it is not a club).

Applications to register the word "Anthrocon" and the 'Anthrocon paw' as US trademarks were filed on 18 September and 12 November 2006, respectively. According to these filings, the word "Anthrocon" was first used on 1 February 1997, while the paw logo was used from 30 June 1998.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Image:Smallwikipedialogo.png Some of this page is derived from Wikipedia. The original article was at Anthrocon. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WikiFur, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Retrieved from "http://furry.wikia.com/wiki/Anthrocon"
Personal tools
In other languages
.