Midwest FurFest

Midwest FurFest
Status Active
Genre Furry
Venue Hyatt Regency O'Hare
Location(s) Rosemont, Illinois
Country United States
Inaugurated 2000
Most recent 2015
Attendance 5,606 in 2015
Organized by Midwest Furry Fandom, Inc.
Filing status 501(c)3
Website
http://www.furfest.org/

Midwest FurFest (abbreviated MFF) is a furry convention, which takes place in Rosemont, Illinois each December. MFF is an Illinois Educational Not-For-Profit Corporation that exists primarily for the purpose of holding an annual convention to facilitate education in anthropomorphic literature and art. A secondary purpose of the corporation is to facilitate the donation of funds to non-profit institutions that the board decides are worthy and which promote the well-being of humans and/or animals. The convention was first held in 2000 and has grown to draw 5,606 attendees in 2015.[1]

Background and history

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.[2]

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 Furry Fandom, Inc. was created and Midwest FurFest was born, to take place in November 2000, on the weekend before Thanksgiving. 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.

Since then, the convention has grown from 388 attendees in 2000 to 5,606 in 2015, making it the second-largest furry convention in the world. It has helped raise over $285,276 for various charities.

Midwest FurFest is a production of Midwest Furry Fandom, Inc., which holds Midwest Furfest and furfest as service marks.

The official Twitter account of Midwest FurFest advises attendees to post on Twitter using the hashtag #FurFest, as many other conventions are abbreviated MFF, one of which takes place at around the same time.

Locations, attendances, and charity donations by year

Year Location Attendance[3] Charity
Donation 		Charity
2000 Arlington Heights, IL 388 $3,522 Wolf Park, Valley of the Kings big cat sanctuary, and Chicago House
2001 Arlington Heights, IL 511 $6,800 Animals for Awareness
2002 Schaumburg, IL 685 $6,088 Animals for Awareness
2003 Schaumburg, IL 800 $6,500 Animals for Awareness
2004 Schaumburg, IL 959 $7,000 Furry Friends Foundation
2005 Schaumburg, IL 1,066 $6,800 Wildlife in Need
2006 Schaumburg, IL 1,422 $13,049 Safe Haven Wildlife Refuge
2007 Schaumburg, IL 1,690 $15,193 Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation
2008 Wheeling, IL 1,992 $15,000 Rainbow Animal Assisted Therapy
2009 Wheeling, IL 2,040 $12,799 Kane Area Rehabilitation and Education for Wildlife
2010 Rosemont, IL 2,285 $11,300 Castaway Pet Rescue
2011 Rosemont, IL 2,600 $19,575 Animal Education and Rescue
2012 Rosemont, IL 3,216 $40,500 Felines & Canines
2013 Rosemont, IL 3,904 $28,000 One Tail at a Time
2014 Rosemont, IL 4,571 $31,446 Critter Camp Exotic Pet Sanctuary
2015 Rosemont, IL 5,606 $62,021 Save-A-Vet

References

  1. ↑ MIDWEST FURFEST 2015 - THANK YOU! on Midwest FurFest's website. Dated December 9, 2015. Retrieved January 25, 2015.
  2. ↑ Midwest FurFest on Wikifur. Retrieved January 25, 2016.
  3. ↑ http://en.wikifur.com/wiki/MFF

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 6/26/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.