FurJAM
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FurJAM is a large furry gathering held yearly in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It typically occurs during one of the weekends of the September School Holidays (NSW), or as late as the first week of October.
FurJAM is a very laid-back outdoor, socially interactive event based around city sightseeing, a picnic in a park with a BBQ, social networking, and having a great day (or three). The ideals of FurJAM are that it should not be restricted to a single location or venue, but be a roving occurrence, allowing people the freedom to pick and choose events they would like to attend, and to come and go as they wish.
FurJAM maintains an official webpage, superseding the old webpage at furjam.com.au.
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[edit] History
Started by Ana and Rubberfox in 2004, FurJAM initially saw 46 attendees during the all-day event, which included visits to Paddy's Markets, Darling Harbour, Rocks Markets, and dinner at Rubberfox's house. The venture began as a proof of concept that furries did actually exist in Sydney. This endeavor succeeded as otherwise hard-to-find furs were discovered.
The following year, in 2005, this number jumped to almost 70 attendees over the course of the day. However, there was no FurJAM held in 2006 due to a lack of interest in organising it.
[edit] 2007
The 2007 FurJAM was held on the weekend of September 21st to 23rd, 2007.[1]
After Flaydramon and Anakaine decided they did not have the time to plan FurJAM 07, it was postponed. After complaints from various furs about it being abandoned, AussieHusky took over the FurJAM Website and planning for the 2007 event.
On the 19th of August, links to the FurJAM website were placed on /b/ with the intention of flooding the forums and messing with the poll choices for event activities. Following this, the polls and forum were closed, leaving the site less interactive.[2]
[edit] 2008
FurJAM 2008 was held on the 26th to 28th of September.
AussieHusky had originally stated that he would not be organising FurJam 2008, as he had his own smaller events, but discontent over Alexander's apparent lack of action due to other commitments prompted AussieHusky to take control of the event.[3]
[edit] 2009
FurJam 2009 was held between the 25th and 27th of September.
AussieHusky started planning early and designed a much more advanced website for users to register, purchase merchandise, and edit their registration. However, technical difficulties forced the website to be temporarily taken down, causing many potential attendees to speculate that the meet had be canceled. Website functionality was restored on June 17th, but with the loss of all registration details[4]. Nevertheless, FurJam 2009 resumed its normal dates.
The meet also suffered from disruption when an anonymous individual claiming to be AussieHusky changed the booking dates for several events just a week before FurJAM was set to go ahead. However, the sabotage attempt was quickly thwarted, with all venues restoring the bookings within 24 hours. FurJAM 2009 went ahead without further incident, excepting a minor physical altercation on Friday night between one of the attendees and a friend of Timon_b, who was seen at events on both Friday and Saturday despite being officially prohibited from attending the meet.
[edit] 2010
FurJAM 2010 was held between September 24th - September 26, and organised by Ray Liehm, with many other furs and non-furs contributing both their time and assistance to ensure a smooth hassle-free event, with the furmeet having approximately 70-80 people present. The weekend's event schedule included dinner & drinks at the Rose on Friday, a BBQ & Art Jam in Centennial Park on Saturday, followed by a room party in the evening featuring dancing, competitions and a stand-up comedy performance by Anthrax, with laser tag, a scavenger hunt and dinner at the Docks Hotel in Darling Harbour on Sunday completing the lineup. Only disruption was Timon_b attending and been refused entry during Furjam 2010 to the Eastern Suburbs Legion Club on the Saturday night following an earlier incident by RayLiehm.
[edit] 2011
FurJAM 2011 was held over the weekend of October 7th - 9th and was organised under the supervision of Bane Ranaura, Auri and Foxdale, with the assistance of previous FurJAM staff. The schedule of events for the 2011 meet built upon the format set out in previous years, with a pub night, BBQ, dance party and scavenger hunt among the listed activities. One significant change was the new pub venue for Friday night, which moved to the Forresters Hotel in Surry Hills[5]. Shirts for the meet were also available for sale via the FurJAM website.
[edit] 2012
FurJAM 2012 was held over September 14th - 16th, 2012. Following previous formats, Friday night was a pub event at The Occidental, with the second floor function room booked out for attendees. Saturday was held again as a BBQ at Paperback Grove in Centennial Park, with night activities taking place at the Easter Suburbs Legion Club. Sunday was left event-free giving friends the chance to meet up in the city of their own accord an organise their own acitivities. This years events concluded at The Helm Bar on Darling Harbour. Shirts were not available for purchase during 2012.
[edit] 2013
As of March 14, 2013, FurJAM 2013 is in planning, and will be organised by Foxdale and Auri, along with Kat Aclysm.
[edit] References
- ↑ FurJAM Dates posted to the OzFurry mailing list by Anakaine on June 17, 2007 (requires registration)
- ↑ FurJam News. posted to the OzFurry mailing list by AussieHusky on August 20, 2007 (requires registration)
- ↑ furjam 08 thread on Furstralia (requires registration)
- ↑ Furstralia Forums post by AussieHusky
- ↑ FurJAM front page daily event announcement. Retrieved November 28, 2011.
[edit] External links
- FurJAM Australia portal
- FurJAM Pictures
- FurJAM group on Facebook
- Photos, videos, reports: FurJAM resources