WikiFur:This week's featured article/Week 49, 2005

Midwest FurFest is a furry convention based in Chicago, Illinois which has been running as a separate entity since 2000. 1066 people attended in 2005. The convention will next be held on 17-19 November 2006.

Midwest FurFest started as the furry track for Duckon, a Chicago-based science fiction convention. The furry track started at Duckon 3 in 1994 and grew larger each year - it was estimated that by Duckon 8 (1999) between one-quarter and one-third of the attendees were there for it.

The track ran into problems because it was running out of room to expand without costing other parts of Duckon. It was decided that the best course of action was to spin off into a new convention, to take place in November of 2000 on the weekend before Thanksgiving. The parting was amicable, and Duckon lent a good bit of expertise and manpower to help make the first year of Midwest FurFest a success.

Past and present members of the board include: Robert King, Aureth, Takaza J. Wolf, Duncan da Husky, Moryssa, Firewing, Tiresta, Steven Calica, Linnaeus, Crim Ferret, Mirko, puma and Hartree Fox.

Guests of Honor at MFF have been: 2000: Robert and Margaret Carspecken, Rapid T. Rabbit, Derrick Dasenbrock 2001: Mary Hanson-Roberts, Jessica Willard, Matt McCullar 2002: Ursula Husted, Ysengrin Werewolf, David Simpson 2003: Thomas Dye, M.C.A. Hogarth, Devious Bruin 2004: Ursula Vernon, Scribblefox, David Gilbert 2005: Gene Breshears, Tincrash, Kenket