WikiFur:This week's featured article/Week 49, 2005
Midwest FurFest (MFF) is a furry convention based in Chicago, Illinois which has been running as a separate entity since 2000. Over 1000 people attended in 2005. The convention will next be held on 17-19 November 2006.
Midwest FurFest got its start as the furry track for Duckon, a Chicago-based science fiction convention. The furry track was started at Duckon 3 in 1994 and was headed up by Robert King. The track grew larger each year and it was estimated that by Duckon 8 (1999) between one-quarter and one-third of the attendees were there due to interest in the furry track.
The track ran into problems because it was running out of room to expand without costing other parts of Duckon programming space and time. It was decided that the best course of action was to spin off into a new convention. Thus, Midwest FurFest was born, to take place in November of 2000, on the weekend before Thanksgiving (a date that was to become traditional). 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.
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