Cape May Fur Meet

From WikiFur, the furry encyclopedia.

The Cape May Fur Meet is a gathering of furs on the weekend before Memorial Day in the county of Cape May, New Jersey.

The CMFM was started when LionkingCMSL offered furs rides on the Cape May Seashore Lines (CMSL) when he heard about AC2000. However, being in South Jersey, LK thought AC meant Atlantic City, and did not find out until later that it was AnthroCon and it was held in Valley Forge, PA, that year. So, to make good on his promise he started CMFM.

The thing that makes CMFM unique in the furry con/meet/fest scheme of things is that it uses a chartered train as part of the meet itself, operated by furries who happen to be CMSL employees.

A typical meet schedule includes a train ride from Cape May Courthouse to Cape May with the stops at the Cape May County Zoo and Cold Spring, followed by a dinner and free exploration of Cape May, and a train ride back. The second day of the meet consists of the train ride to Cold Spring, a school bus ride to the resort town of Wildwood, free exploration of its boardwalk and bus and train to get back.

CMFM is held on the last weekend before the official opening of the tourist season in Cape May and Wildwood, so the furries manage to beat the crowds. The next Meet is 17-18 May 2008.

[edit] History

In 2004, 73 furs attended CMFM the last time that the train was able to operate for the entirety of the route.

In 2005, the train could not go to Cape May because of renovations on the Canal Bridge, and CMFM replaced that part of the ride with a bus.^[1]

In 2006, CMFM was cancelled because the bridge was still out of commission for renovations.^[2]

In 2007, CMFM had to rely completely on bus rides instead of trains at the last minute because the tracks had been washed out by storms.^[3] The contingency was planned ahead because of the uncertainty of the bridge's status and the schedule was unaffected.^[4]