Furnal Equinox 2023

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Furnal Equinox 2023
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Furnal Equinox 2023 was the twelfth annual in-person Furnal Equinox convention, held in the Westin Habour Castle on March 17-19, 2023 [1]. The convention incorporated the existing VRChat worlds designed by Lilithe Lotor and her team, with modifications made to adopt a medieval world in keeping with the convention theme, as well as communications on Telegram, Discord, Twitch, and Twitter.

The theme of the convention was dubbed "Tales from the Tavern" and adopted a medieval theme. Cheetahpaws and Norman Rafferty were chosen as Guests of Honor.[2][3] Due to the COVID-19 novel coronavirus, Furnal Equinox 2023 required proof of vaccination and maintained a mask mandate for all attendees visiting convention spaces.[4] With international travel requirements relaxed, international visitors were no longer required to obtain negative COVID-19 tests before entering Canada. Registration opened on November 12, 2022,[5] and all tiers rated Sponsor and above were sold out by February 26, 2023.[6] A printed convention booklet was made available during the registration process.[7] The room block opened on October 21, 2022, via a special room reservation portal, with the first round of rooms selling out quickly.[8] Fewer double rooms were available compared to previous conventions due to ongoing renovations at the Westin Habour Castle's South Tower, but rooms in additional nearby hotels such as the Holiday Inn Express were made available on January 15, 2023 to alleviate increased demand.[9]

For the convention's twelfth iteration, the Marriott Westin Harbour Castle embraced the convention once again. The front desk showed off pictures of previous conventions mounted on hard posterboard and displayed signage throughout the hotel, including the elevators. Letters in each guest room explained the nature of the convention. As was the case in 2022, the lobby column colors were changed to reflect support for Ukraine in the wake of the ongoing war with Russia [10], but also reflected the convention's colors. Attendees once again benefited from a 15% discount off all food and non-alcoholic beverages at the hotel's Chartroom Lounge restaurant.

Fursuiters were spotted touring the hotel grounds on March 15, 2023 before the convention officially opened. Some passers-by near the hotel entered the hotel, discovered the convention for the first time, and registered on the spot.

The convention included a VRChat portal and meet-and-greet for the first time in its history.

During the Tour De Fur, Canadian House of Commons Member of Parliament Kevin Vuong encountered the fursuit procession while gathering signatures for a petition to avert the closure of the Toronto Harbourfront Centre Skating Rink. The meeting left him impressed with Furnal Equinox, to which he thanked the attendees for supporting local Toronto businesses. [11]

The convention exceeded many of the recorded numbers of previous years. During Closing Ceremonies on March 19, 2023, it was announced that 3,338 attendees registered for the convention (a 60% growth compared to 2,206 recorded in 2022), which included at least 1,381 fursuiters. This exceeded all previous attendance records and resulted in the convention earning the tenth ranked position on the list of in-person conventions ranked by attendance. Exact attendance numbers were confirmed on March 27, 2023.[12] More dealers and vendors than ever before were noted at the convention, along with many panels being filled to capacity or overfilled. $7,128 was the value announced for donations to the Hobbitstee Wildlife Refuge charity group, with the final total still being assessed. The Hobbitstee Wildlife Refuge group assured that they would invite convention attendees to their open house once their new wildlife hospital opened in Fall 2023.

References[edit]

  1. Event Site Blog Post from Furnal Equinox. Retrieved September 4, 2022.
  2. Furnal Equinox - Guest of Honor: Cheetahpaws from Twitter. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
  3. Furnal Equinox - Guest of Honor: Norman Rafferty from Twitter. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
  4. Furnal Equinox - Furnal Equinox COVID-19 Information and Policies from Furnal Equinox. Updated March 5, 2023. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
  5. Furnal Equinox - Registration Is Open from Twitter. Retrieved March 21, 2023
  6. Furnal Equinox - Sponsor Tiers Sold Out from Twitter. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
  7. Furnal Equinox - Physical Con Book from Twitter. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
  8. Furnal Equinox - Room Block Open from Twitter. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
  9. Furnal Equinox - The Tavern Has Expanded! from Twitter. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
  10. 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine from Wikipedia. Retrieved September 4, 2022.
  11. Kevin Vuong MP - TourDeFur from Twitter. Retrieved March 22, 2023.
  12. Furnal Equinox - March 27, 2023 – It’s been a week since FE2023! from Furnal Equinox. Retrieved March 27, 2023.

External Links[edit]

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