ZonieCon

ZonieCon was a small furry convention based in Tucson, Arizona held in 1998, 1999 and 2001, chaired by Scott Malcomson. Promoted as "The Con That Would Not Die", ZonieCon was held at the Best Western Executive Inn in Tucson throughout its tenure.

Mitch Beiro was a regular attendee at ZonieCon and helped produce the flyers, conbooks and foamcore displays that promoted the event.

History
The convention was named after Zonie the Coyote, a character created by Michael-Scot "McMoo" McMurry who acted as ZonieCon's mascot. After McMurry's demise to stomach cancer in 2001, ZonieCon briefly engaged in a limited partnership with the ConFurence Group but effectively dissolved after its final outing in October of that year. The convention was finally shelved when Malcomson moved from Tucson to Phoenix.

During one year in ZonieCon's history, the Best Western allowed convention-goers to draw on the walls of the hotel. This was because the hotel was under renovation at the time of the convention, and most of the hotel was due to be repainted in the days following. The permissive attitude was attributed to a communications error on the part of Best Western, which had led them to neglect ZonieCon's contract and room reservations, with several attendees having to be relocated elsewhere.

Malcomson attempted to restart ZonieCon in 2011, this time at the Hotel Tucson. Although some funding was obtained, problems with promotion and a lack of pre-registrations led the event to be cancelled in May 2011.

Events
ZonieCon held many events not typical of most furry conventions, including:
 * Machine gun shoots;
 * Model rocket flights;
 * "Art Spelunking" - in which furry artists took over a storm drain for art and exploration fun;
 * Wolf Smith's "Ice Cream Anti-Social";
 * The "Meat Meet" - which provided free burgers and ribs for all attendees.