Anthrocon

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Anthrocon
Anthrocon.gif
Other names {{{othernames}}}
Location
Website
Status Ongoing
First iteration July 3-6, 1997 (as Albany AnthroCon)

July 1-4, 1999 (as AnthroCon)

Organizer(s) Anthrocon, Inc.
Subject Furry
Resources Photos, videos, reports: Anthrocon resources
Anthrocon (edit)
Anthrocon.gif
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 2011
Anthrocon 2012
Anthrocon 2013
Anthrocon 2014
Anthrocon 2015
Anthrocon 2016
Anthrocon 2017
Anthrocon 2018
Anthrocon 2019
Anthrocon 2020
Anthrocon 2021
Anthrocon 2022
Anthrocon 2023

Anthrocon staff
Anthrocon guests of honor

Anthrocon, or just AC, is a furry convention held yearly during the summer in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. It is currently the world's largest furry convention, with an attendance of 13,644 in AC 2023, narrowly surpassing the attendance of MFF 2022.

History[edit]

The convention was founded in 1997 as Albany AnthroCon, which 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 its first year, it had approximately 500 attendees.

In late 1998-1999, the chairmanship of the convention was transferred to Dr. Samuel Conway by Points, and they formally organized the group as Anthrocon Inc., and later renamed the convention to "Anthrocon", and relocated it to Pennsylvania. Its first venue was the Hilton Hotel of Valley Forge, Pennsylvania in 1999 and 2000. Due to a rapid increase in attendees, it was forced to relocate to the larger Adams Mark Hotel of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 2001, where it became the largest furry convention ever held, with 1,457 attendees.

Attendance continued to grow, and by 2004 it was 2,406. Attendance in 2005 dropped slightly to 2,373, due in part to higher parking fees, and a different and unfamiliar hotel, which was 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 increased again in 2006 with the move to the David Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, reaching 2,489. In 2008, total attendance reached 3,390. In 2010, it increased with 4,238 attendees and four official convention hotels. Growth for the convention has historically averaged 14% yearly.

Since 1997, the Anthrocon Charity Auction has donated a total of $240K+ to local charities.

Security for the convention has been provided by the Dorsai Irregulars from 2002 until 2019.

Current location and timeslot[edit]

Visitor Statistics

Due to the unforeseen sale and closure of the Adam's Mark Hotel in November 2004, AC chose the Wyndham Franklin Plaza in Philadelphia as the site for 2005 and announced that they would be moving there for the next year. In 2006, Due to scheduling conflicts, the convention had to temporarily leave its normal July timeslot and was held on June 15-18. In 2007, it was held July 5-8 at the same location.

The 2006 move to Pittsburgh was envisioned by AC's Board of Directors before the sale of the Adam's Mark Hotel took place, due to AC's increasing attendance. AC 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 out of Pennsylvania and the move made little difference to the trip there.

Leadership[edit]

The chairman of the convention is Dr. Samuel Conway (also known as Kagemushi or Uncle Kage by attendees), who oversees AC's operations with the help of staff and volunteers who donate their time and energy throughout the weekend to assist the multitude of small tasks that arise.

Board of Directors[edit]

Guests of Honor[edit]

Past GoH have included:

Typical programming[edit]

A photo of the fursuit dance at Anthrocon 2005.

Themes[edit]

  • 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
  • 2009: OMG Aliens!
  • 2010: Modern Stone-Age Furries
  • 2011: The Anthropomorphic Institute of Magic
  • 2012: A Midsummer Night's Dream
  • 2013: The Fast and The Furrious
  • 2014: Secret Societies
  • 2015: Viking Invasion!
  • 2016: Roaring "Twenty" (20th anniversary)
  • 2017: Take Me Out To The Ballgame
  • 2018: Movie Monsters
  • 2019: Surf Pacific
  • 2020: Aesop's Fables; replaced with Virtual Anthrocon
  • 2021: Replaced with Virtual Anthrocon
  • 2022: Aesop's Fables
  • 2023: Anthropolis: We Built This City
  • 2024: AnthroCoaster!

Charities[edit]

Every year, Anthrocon chooses a local animal-related charity to be the beneficiary of its charity auction.[1]

Attendance[edit]

AC's attendance has increased yearly, except for AC 2005. Membership in the fursuit parade has increased as well, rising to 5.9% of members in 2005 to a peak of 28.7% in 2016.

Convention year Attendance Percentage change Fursuiters in fursuit parade Percentage change
Albany AnthroCon 1997 500* N/A Unknownº N/A
Albany AnthroCon 1998 600* 20% Unknown N/A
Anthrocon 1999 845 40.8% Unknown N/A
Anthrocon 2000 1,128 33.4% Unknown N/A
Anthrocon 2001 1,457 29.2% Unknown N/A
Anthrocon 2002 1,648 13.1% Unknown N/A
Anthrocon 2003 1,949 18.2% Unknown N/A
Anthrocon 2004 2,404 23.3% Unknown N/A
Anthrocon 2005 2,370 -1.4% 140 N/A
Anthrocon 2006 2,489 5% 191 36.4%
Anthrocon 2007 2,849 14.5% 353 84.8%
Anthrocon 2008 3,390 19% 453 28.3%
Anthrocon 2009 3,777 11.4% 640 41.3%
Anthrocon 2010 4,238 12.2% 713 11.4%
Anthrocon 2011 4,402 3.8% 854 19.8%
Anthrocon 2012 5,179 17.7% 1,044 22.2%
Anthrocon 2013 5,577 7.68% 1,300 24.5%
Anthrocon 2014 5,861 5.09% 1,326 2%
Anthrocon 2015 6,386 9.01% 1,460 10.11%
Anthrocon 2016 7,310 14.44% 2,100 43.34%
Anthrocon 2017 7,554 3.33% 1,890 -10.00%
Anthrocon 2018 8,407 11.29% 1,980 4.76%
Anthrocon 2019 9,358 11.31% 2,132 7.67%
Anthrocon 2020 6,136** N/A 2 (staff) N/A
Anthrocon 2022 9,702 3.68% 2,562 20.17%
Anthrocon 2023 13,644 40.63% 3,127 22.05%

(*)Estimated

(**)Unique VRChat attendees

ºAnthrocon didn't keep records on the number of fursuiters in the fursuit parade until 2005.

Incorporation and Trademarks[edit]

Anthrocon, Inc. was incorporated as a non-profit organization on June 25, 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, since it's not a club.

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

Trivia[edit]

  • The choice of Toonseum was made with consultation of the furry community via a LiveJournal post by Rigel. It has so far been the only (fandom-approved) exception to the "animal-related" charity rule.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. Charity history on Anthrocon's website. Retrieved June 19, 2012.

External links[edit]

Media[edit]


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