Open Coast

Open Coast is a furry social group based in Pensacola, Florida, USA. Its team of administrators cultivates the growth of anthropomorphic events in the Gulf Coast region of the USA originally spanning Mobile, Alabama to Panama City, Florida before spreading its reach to include South Mississippi in January 2020.

Open Coast currently hosts original events, promotes events run by other regional groups, and sponsors events run by members of the local community by assisting with the prep work (scheduling, venue relations, promotions) and providing on-site support.

History
Open Coast was co-founded in November 2016 by Kabba, Schande Thompson and Brad The Colf. The project's original goal was to energize the community by bringing unique event ideas to life in the real world, acting as a support network for the region, and producing new tools to help local furry fans connect and organize.

The group's mascot, Emerald (named for Florida's Emerald Coast), was created by Brad The Colf and would serve as the inspiration for the group's custom Telegram bot, @EmeraldHelperBot. Emerald delivers on-demand information relevant to the local community including monthly event calendars (complete with event/group profiles), a carpool registry and a directory of local chats, artists, fursuit makers and crafters.

By August of 2017, the private Open Coast Telegram group garnered over 155 members, becoming the region's largest community on the platform. In the same year, the Open Coast administrative team launched a number of successful events (original and sponsored) and pioneered the region's first furry convention, Emerald's Fur Summit, which ran in 2017 (as Emerald Fur Con) and 2018.

In May 2019, Kabba stepped down as the lead admin of Open Coast for personal reasons and gave control to the group to Brad The Colf. Open Coast then started to appoint more admins due to the group's large size.

Assembly
The Open Coast Assembly is a monthly gaming (tabletop, console and PC) and fursuiting event complete with an art raffle, photo shoot and other fun activities. The event debuted on May 6th, 2017 and is currently the largest fursuiting event in the region, having reached 62 attendees and 20 fursuits on June 3rd, 2017.

The event was launched by Kabba who also serves as its lead administrator.

Grand Prix
The Open Coast Grand Prix is a competitive go-kart racing event held quarterly in Pensacola, Florida. The event debuted on March 19th, 2017 and saw 22 attendees.

The event was launched by Schande Thompson who also serves as its lead administrator.

Potluck
The Open Coast Potluck is a community potluck event held annually in Pensacola, Florida. The even debuted in 2017 and has been hosted every year since then. It normally takes place Bayview Park and is a fursuit-friendly event, allowing furries to fursuit in a cooler part of the year.

The event was launched by Schande Thompson who also serves as its lead administrator.

Digi-Con
Open Coast Digi-Con was a one-time digital convention that debuted in April 2020 due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic that occurred at the time and was for members of Open Coast and other local furs in the area. It was held on Discord and had events revolved around gaming and even included a panel. The final attendance was 65+.

It's unknown whether or not the event will return, as the restrictions on social interactions that necessitated the need of the event would no longer be in place for future Digi-Cons.

Open Coast Counties

 * Bay County
 * Walton County
 * Okaloosa County
 * Santa Rosa County
 * Escambia County
 * Baldwin County
 * Mobile County
 * Parts of South Mississippi