Furrydelphia: Philly's fourth bite at the furry apple
Philly Metro's "Inside Philly's first furries convention" offers a compelling summary of our fandom's latest (and quite successful) convention. But its title betrays a lack of research. While Drayne and his team are to be congratulated for bringing a new furry convention to the City of Brotherly Love, it is by no means the 
first… nor even the largest furry con held there.
The first honour belongs to Furtasticon, chaired in November 1994 by Trish Ny – which was also furry fandom's second convention, spun up in the space of a few months, allegedly after perceived
Then there's Furstivus, which drew 238 – organized by SkippyFox and friends on short notice to replace 2012's New Year's Furry Ball. One must also consider the giant next door, Anthrocon.
Founded in 1997 in Albany, NY, this behemoth moved to Philly in 2001, having become the largest furry convention in the world while in Valley Forge. It left for Pittsburgh in 2006 after the purchase and ultimate demolition of its favoured hotel, the Adams Mark, by Target. [Anthrocon duly auctioned the hotel's "last brick", raising $200 for the Western PA National Wild Animal Orphanage.]
Why did AC choose the Steel City? As its erstwhile chairman tells it, a bottle of wine was involved – along with a folder stuffed with anthrocon.org printouts. In truth, such events tend to grow rapidly; and while furries are known for their enthusiasm, our community trends young, and cannot always afford the best in life. If Philadelphia wishes to keep this new event, its hotels and event spaces must remain available, accommodating… and affordable.
About the author
GreenReaper (Laurence Parry) — read stories — contact (login required)a developer, editor and Kai Norn from London, United Kingdom, interested in wikis and computers
Small fuzzy creature who likes cheese & carrots. Founder of WikiFur, lead admin of Inkbunny, and Editor-in-Chief of Flayrah.
Comments
If I may indulge in a little self-promotion, my “Furry Fandom Conventions, 1989-2015” includes descriptions of 1994’s FurTasTiCon, 2011’s Furstivus, and the Anthrocons in Philadelphia from 2001 to 2005. The Philly Metro can be forgiven for not knowing furry fandom’s history in Philadelphia, but Furrydelphia’s organizer Drayne should have known and clued the writer in. This ignorance of furry fandom’s history is exactly what my book is meant to correct.
Fred Patten
To be fair to Drayne, it's unlikely he knew about the story's title, or it probably wouldn't have said "furries convention". Whether he claimed it was the first such convention in Philly is less clear, but in any case it's a Metro fact-checking fail. The convention tagline "Philadelphia's Very Own Furry Convention!" might have something to do with it.
Edit: Drayne says he and the staff were "very aware of Philly's history of fur cons", and "never meant to imply that Furrydelphia was the first". Meanwhile, Metro's Cassie Hepler says she was "just reporting what people told me".
Random note: Furrydelphia is a 501(c)(3), but wants to be a 501(c)(7).
[comment removed on request]
I was there! (and at Furstivus)
It was definitely a good time.
Went to Anthrocon from 2002-2005, the Adams Mark actually felt like a second home.
And I really liked it in Scenter City during 2005. Right by the food carts for $3.50 cheesesteaks.
I will be there next year, and I definitely hope it sticks around.
The first time I met a fursuiter was at that Adams Mark when I was there for PhilCon'98. :) I thought it was awesome but didn't really enter the fandom for another six years (thanks, SecondLife!)
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