RBW 2011 cancelled; boat party remains

British furry convention RBW will not be held in 2011, according to an announcement on its Twitter feed. [Markos/FNN]

The group cite a lukewarm response to a three-day residential event in London, and competition from LondonFurs, who host tri-weekly meets.

[...] for the last three years we've been left worrying right up until the last month or two whether we'll have enough attendees to cover the cost of the event. We'd hoped that the successes of previous years would fix that problem, but the number of attendees hasn't changed significantly.

Organizers still intend to run the popular boat party on the Thames, and perhaps other events.

RBW – initially known as Red, Blue & White, later retitled Rather Brilliant Weekend – got off to a strong start; 242 attended in 2007, 290 the following year. But various problems in 2008 led attendance to drop 22% in 2009, and while last year's event was well-received, attendance fell further.

The change leaves Manchester's ConFuzzled and ScotiaCon (scheduled for this July - interview) as the only furry conventions in the United Kingdom.

Past attendees are posting their memories in the UKFur forums.

Further reading: RBW's first theme, move to a hotel, 2008 activities and their 2010 donations and con book.