MiDFur

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See also MidFur for fans from the English Midlands.
MiDFur2008

MiDFur is short for Melbourne in December Fur Meet, an event that has been held annually since 1999 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Traditionally, the furmeet takes place in 'MiD'-December, two weeks before Christmas.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Origins

MiDFur was originally Atpaw's planned December 1999 meet-up of five furs scattered around Australia. From Melbourne, Alpha X-ray. From Newcastle, Atpaw and Sepharen. From Adelaide, TimberFox and finally, from Brisbane, Whyrl.

During the course of planning, 'MiDFur' was decided upon to identify the event and word spread of the small private meet-up. However, as the time of the convention grew near, the founders began to withdraw from attendance due to real-life commitments, until all five had pulled out. A furry named Muse volunteered to step in and take up the reins. Since then, a different furry has organised the meet each year. However, none of the original founders of MiDFur attended the event they set into motion for several years.

Since then, planning of the event has become increasingly open to the public, mostly discussed on the Ozfurry mailing list and SA Furs discussion forum. Four of the five founders did end up attending MiDFur, though rarely in the same year.

[edit] MiDFur 2006

MiDFur 2006 was organised by Scrapper and was held from December 15 to 17 with a "plushie" theme. About 55 furs were booked for the opening night feast.[1] The event concluded with the South Fur Lands Binding Party, where awards were presented for different categories of plushies. Two different t-shirts were made available; one of them featured a colour design by Mye.

[edit] MiDFur 2007

In 2007, organisation of MiDFur was again headed by Scrapper, with other furs – Byftpup, ArcticPete, and Firey – organising parts of the event. It was held on the 14th to the 16th of December 2007. 127 furries attended the Friday dinner, which broke previous dinner attendance records. MiDFur shirts (featuring art by MistyStriker), hoodies, and lanyards were made available to attendants for purchase.

[edit] MiDFur X (2008)

MiDFur X took place 12-15 December 2008;[2] it was the first instance of MiDFur to be a convention rather than simply a meet. A comprehensive registration cost AU$195 (~US$180), providing access to a variety of events including a trip to the Eureka Tower Sky Deck and the Melbourne Zoo, two dinners, and a gala ball.[3]

The guests were 2 and Uncle Kage, Paul Kidd and Zaen Kreecha.[4] The event attracted 177 attendees in total,[5] selling out the 150-person ballroom dance and raising over AU$3840 (~US$3540) for the RSPCA.[6][7] Not without some controversy though, as the complete donation of the money several months delayed due to poor management.[8][9] Learning from this, the money raised the following year at the 2009 MiDFur Charity Auction for Lort Smith Animal Hospital was collected by by Lort Smith CEO, Ric Holland.[10]

[edit] MiDFur 11: At The Movies (2009)

The eleventh MiDFur was the second year of MiDFur as a convention and was held at Rydges Hotel in Melbourne and had 247 attendees. The convention movie themed and so the convention area was decorated with furry mock-ups of movie posters, storyboards, lengths of 16mm film and other film related objects as well as several movie-centric events including a Hollywood style Gala Ball complete with red carpet. The announced guests were 2 Gryphon and Tim Albee. However Tim Albee could not make it due to catching Swine Flu. Instead, in keeping with the movie theme two Australian filmmakers were brought in as guests of honour; writer/director Stephan Elliott (The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Easy Virtue) and writer Sheridan Jobbins (Easy Virtue, Simon Townsend's Wonder World), both making their first appearances at a furry convention. And the fourth guest of honour which was kept secret until his dramatic reveal on Friday night was Uncle Kage. 2 and Uncle Kage paired up for a charity comedy performance which raised $840 which was followed by the MiDFur charity auction. All up, AU$5705 (~US$5260) were raised for the Lort Smith Animal Hospital, a North Melbourne veterinary and animal welfare organisation. [11] Additionally, MiDFur received largely positive media coverage on page four of The Age, one of Australia's leading newspapers. [12]

[edit] MiDFur 12: Heroes and Villains (2010)

Cynwolfe, chairman of the MiDFur board, revealed that the theme of the twelfth MiDFur (the third year it will be a convention) will be Heroes and Villains. Several of the 2009 board members will be staying on board and it was also announced that 2 Gryphon will be added to the board in an advisory role due to his experience with conventions.

At this time, no other details of the next MiDFur have been released.

[edit] MiDFur Organisers

[edit] References

  1. ↑ MiDfur Dinner – URGENT by Tech Wolfox at SAFurs.org
  2. ↑ Announcing... MiDFur X, 12-15th Dec 2008! on the OzFurry mailing list
  3. ↑ MiDFur X Announcements - Arctic Pete, MiDFur forums (30 March 2008)
  4. ↑ MiDFur, Australias First ever convention Announcements - ArcticPete, Anthrocon forums (19 February 2008)
  5. ↑ Re: Treasurer's report 05 Jan 2009 post by Fala to MiDFur forum. Retrieved 2010 January 4.
  6. ↑ Midfur Con Report - MickyW (16 December 2008)
  7. ↑ Treasurer's report status - Fala, MiDFur forums (22 December 2008)
  8. ↑ MiDFur X RSPCA donation status - Kyle Evans, MiDFur forum announcement (6 March 2009)
  9. ↑ RSPCA Donation Complete - Kyle Evans, MiDFur forum announcement (5 June 2009)
  10. ↑ MiDFur 2009 Post Con Report Kyle Evans, MiDFur forum announcement (12 December 2009)
  11. ↑ MiDFur 2009 Post Con Report Kyle Evans, MiDFur forum announcement (12 December 2009)
  12. ↑ Affur of the heart unleashes animal instincts The Age newspaper article (5 December 2009)
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