News:New hotel aids Califur revival

June Visitors to this month's Califur had low expectations after last year's disappointing experience. Instead, hotel and convention staff delivered what attendees dubbed "the best Califur by a wide margin", "light years better than the last time" and "the best year yet".

The registration count rose 23% to 720, with several dealers reporting a decent profit. The event made much of its safari theme, printing the now-common personalized room keys. Several fursuiters played along, accessorizing their costumes with plastic guns and crossbows; at least 87 participated in the fursuit parade.

Some commented adversely on the presence of Cal Cotton, a dealer in real fur tails, mink-tipped floggers and scrimshaws. It was not their first year, though, and despite recent activism against the use of real fur in plush toys, many attendees saw no real problem.

Califur 4's venue was memorable for all the wrong reasons — a disappointing ice-cream social, filming (albeit by furries) in the halls, and a wedding reception forcing the event into what one con-goer described as a "furry ghetto" of black curtains. The curtains were so notorious that their lack was advertised as a feature of the new hotel, the Irvine Mariott.

Califur is to return to the Mariott on June 4-6, 2010, with the theme of "Fabulous Furry Funnies!" The next FENEC event is Califur Diego, a furmeet to be held at Comic-Con.

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