Furizona

Furizona was a meeting for members of the furry fandom in Tucson, Arizona. It was commonly organized so that a meeting would take place each month, usually early in the month, and another meet around mid-month.

"Furizona Furmeets, Bringing Furries Together Since 2008."

A look into the past
This section is adapted from an article, posted circa 2009, on the new official Furizona website, detailing the history of the furmeets as a whole.

Back in July of 2008, Ricardo (Xorrito) decided to plan and execute a furmeet in Tucson. With help from Alan (another Tucson fur), his plan was carried out and the furmeet had an attendance of 15 furries. Reynard Loustaunau (Pedro) Crimson_Fox took it upon himself to plan the meets (Monthly, instead of the original idea, to have yearly meets). The next meet was planned for August and the one after was planned for September.

Between the first three meets, Reynard and Kandy, spoke of giving it a name. The name was decided to be Furizona, a play on the state in which these meets take place (after no luck with the word "Tucson").

After the September meet, Reynard's laptop died and he was unable to plan meets for the following three months. After sending out an email informing people of this, he took a temporary leave of absence, promising to continue planning once he got another personal computer. During this time, the planning was left open to anyone who may have wanted to, but sadly no one planned another meet.

Once he got a new laptop, Reynard planned the fourth meet to take place in January. The long-awaited meet had an attendance of 25 furries. Past then, Reynard planned the meets to occur once a month - early on in the month. Upon popular demand, the meets were later expanded to be twice a month, almost bi-weekly. Flame (KDE) offered to have the mid-month meets at his house and soon Reynard made a website to be hosted on Flame's server space.

In early 2011 Reynard decided to leave the post of organizer and handed over the responsibilities to BwarRoo who has continued the meets in the same structure as Reynard

July 7th, 2008
The first official Furizona meet occurred on July 7th, 2008 with an attendance of 15 furries. It took place at Reid Park. Ramada #1 was rented by Alan Leandros, music was provided by Reynard, and food was provided by Wulfy and Damon Kitty. Organization of the event was done by Xorrito.

August 10th, 2008
The second official Furizona meet occurred on August 10th, 2008 with an attendance of 10 furries, less than expected. The primary reason for the lower attendance was the down-time of Fur Affinity and poor communication, this issue will hopefully not occur for the next meeting. Every fur met at Jesse Owens Park and then went to Skate Country to skate. Planning was primarily done by Reynard with ideas from the council. Videos and photos have been added to the respective Photobucket and YouTube areas. Special thanks to everyone that provided transportation and/or provided for entrance or skate rental.

September 7th, 2008
The third official Furizona meet occurred on August 7th, 2008 with an attendance of 7 furries, despite the 14 furries that confirmed they would attend. At about 10:00 am, the seven furs drove up to Mt.Lemmon and hung out at a high point due to the nice cool air found there. Due to a light rain, no pictures or video were taken so no new material will be in the Photobucket or YouTube accounts. Organization was done by Reynard. Wulfy and Jonathan provided transportation for everyone. Kandy and Tamias Squirrel provided food for everyone. Thank you everyone.

January 18th, 2009
The fourth official Furizona meet occurred on January 18th, 2009 with an attendance of 25 furries. The meet's events were similar to those of the second Furizona furmeet. The meet began at 11:30 am at Jesse Owens Park. All 25 furs met at a ramada there and mostly just drank soda and ate chips while talking and drawing. Many furs also played with Nerf guns from time to time, thanks Jonathan! At 3:00 pm about 23 furs went over to Skate Country, about two thirds of which skated. After 6:00 pm everyone dispersed as the meet came to a close. Videos and photos will be uploaded to the official website soon. Organization was done by Reynard. Special thanks to everyone who brought food and drink, drove furs around, and/or provided money for furs to skate. Thank you all for making this the largest of the Furizona furmeets.

Mailing List
Due to the quick nature of the planning structure, there is an emailing list and texting list managed by Bwarroo. If you wish to join, contact him and you will receive emails or texts regarding the Furizona furmeets.

Everyone in the mailing list will receive emails regarding the next Furizona furmeets and any information relating to furmeets which anyone on the mailing list may be putting together.

Staffing
The staffing system has changed many times throughout the furmeets. The first meet was planned by Xorrito and past then Reynard took over as the organizer until early 2011 when the duties were passed on to BwarRoo. Any suggestions may be posted on the Furizona Official Website's forum or emailed directly to the organizer.

Expectations
The constantly changing attendance rates make it difficult to estimate the next furmeet's attendance, though more furries are hoped to attend each time. It is hoped that a full furcon can be formed in the future as the furry population rises in Tucson and/or the furmeet gains popularity within the state or even country.

The next meet is not currently being planned.

Official Website
Furizona website started at http://sites.google.com/site/tucsonfurries/ (circa mid-2008)

The Furizona Official website can be found here. This website was designed by Reynard and is currently updated by BwarRoo.