Anthrocon brings the heat: 20 years in the steel city!

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Exterior of the David Lawrence Convention Center displaying the Anthrocon flag -Photo by Kamen

In 2006, the Anthrocon Board of Directors voted to move the convention from Philadelphia to the David Lawrence convention center and Westin in Pittsburgh. This was the start of a relationship that culminated in twenty thousand attendees celebrating 20 years of Anthrocon.

Anthrocon took place in Pittsburgh from July 2nd to July 5th with the theme of “Critters, Cryptids, and Curses,” while also celebrating the 20th anniversary of the convention taking place in the steel city. To honor this occasion, Pittsburgh mayor Corey O’Conner came to the organizers of the convention to declare the day “Anthrocon Day.” This was an unexpected gift to the convention, which involved visiting the organizers on July 1st, and the county executive Sara Innamorato congratulating the convention for contributing 169 million dollars into the Pittsburgh economy for the past 20 years.

For 20 years Anthrocon has had a special relation with its host city as it is symbiotic: Anthrocon gets to call the city its host while the city of Pittsburgh generates revenue from attendees.

The enthusiastic host of Pittsburgh

Alongside donating to the charity J&J Farms Animal Sanctuary, the convention brings millions in revenue to the city, boosting businesses and restaurants in the downtown area.

“More and more of Pittsburgh institutions are coming to us and saying `What can we do to be a part of this?`” commented Anthrocon’s public outreach director John “KuddlePup” Cole, “When that happens, we can reach out to our attendees and say “this is what the city wants to do for you because they want you here. I know of no other city anywhere where their host city goes to them and asks `What can we do for you?`”

Also known as “K.P.” Cole has been the one to help facilitate a relationship with not only the convention and the attendees, but the surrounding businesses of the city of Pittsburgh.

Anthrocon has since partnered with local groups like “VisitPittsburgh” to help allow con attendees to immerse themselves in the city and their businesses, as well as restaurants which offer special menus and discounts for attendees. Hotels and restaurants received cardboard cutouts of anthropomorphic characters to represent their hotels and businesses, called “Friends of Anthrocon.” Hotels like the Pittsburgh Marriott City Center and businesses like Gateway Clipper Fleet depict their companies as animals ranging from fish to panthers, showing the connections the convention attendees have made with the locals.

For some places like Pizza Parma, the relationship goes even deeper than a cutout, as the shop transforms into Furryland for the weekend. Alongside special deals for their pizza, the shop sells merchandise for the furry attendees such as water bottles, fanny packs, and more famously, dog bowls.

The tradition between the pizza restaurant and the convention goes back to when the restaurant was known as “Fernando’s” a pizza place that was kept afloat by Anthrocon attendees in 2012 after getting hit by recession. After Fernando’s left and the pizza place was under new ownership, Pizza Parma continues to thrive whenever the convention is in town, taking on a different name: Furryland.

Registration lines for Anthrocon on Thursday for sponsor, super sponsors, and ultra sponsors - Photo by Kamen

Continued growth as registrations sell out

“The goals are to get bigger, the bigger Anthrocon gets, the bigger we will grow,” said Baris Budak, owner of Furryland. “Let’s see what the next 20 years will bring us.”

The chances of getting bigger is a reality, as Anthrocon's closing ceremony reported an attendance of 20,618, officially becoming the most attended furry convention in the world. This contrasts to 2025, where it was competing with Furry Weekend Atlanta, in which Anthrocon beat out the Atlanta based convention by 621 attendees. This year, whereas Furry Weekend Atlanta saw a drop in attendance, Anthrocon shattered its last year record of 18,357, a growth of 2300 attendees.

For the first time in Anthrocon’s history, attendee badges for both the weekend and days all sold out including held at-the-door badges, leaving it as a surprise for staff, including director of registration Nuclear Space Cat.

“For the first time in the history of the convention we sold out of badges for attendees and Friday day passes. We didn’t anticipate this but it’s not a bad thing,” stated the director, “We have a cap of attendance on our convention. We don’t want to overcrowd the building and have the fire marshall called on us. So we have to limit it for safety.”

Despite attendees being understanding, some were disappointed with how registration was handled. One issue being the use of ConCat, as day passes were shown as sold out the morning of, not allowing any attendees to buy day passes. This contradicted the statements made by registration staff the morning off, which said that a limited amount of passes were available at the door. While Anthrocon was able to keep the attendance cap regulated, some attendees were left disappointed with the lack of communications and poor use of concat to show the status of the convention.

Heat and humidity shuts down the fursuit parade

However the most notable problem was something that most of the East Coast experienced during the 4th of July weekend: the heat. The United States experienced heatwaves reaching up to 100 across the east coast and midwest, and 4th of July events in cities like Philadelphia and Washington D.C. were canceled because of heat related incidents. Pittsburgh was no exception, as temperatures reached as high as 96 Fahrenheit during the weekend and humidity reached as high as 70%, which creates a wet bulb temperature over 110 Fahrenheit degrees.

Ever since the heatwave started at the end of June attendees traveling to the city experienced heat-related delays. Notably, Amtrak passengers traveling from New York Moynihan Hall to Pittsburgh Union Station faced a one hour delay in Philadelphia, pushing their expected arrival time back from 8:00pm to around 9:50pm.

The heat left an impact on Anthrocon attendees both inside and outside the con space, as walking to the cons from the several hotels was difficult for attendees. There were also inconsistencies with shuttle buses going to and from the convention, with hotels like the Cambria and Marriott City Center having an estimated 10 minute walk. Other issues also took place during the convention, as reports of escalators and elevators were overheating and shutting down due to the heat, leaving some attendees with difficulties navigating the convention space. After working with local weather and EMS services, the Anthrocon team canceled the fursuit parade and block party.

“A lot of factors came into making this decision, one of these was what was happening at PNC Park the day we made that decision,” stated K.P, “EMS was being overloaded by Pittsburgh residents at the stadium passing out because of the heat. We knew that that was a possibility here, but we wanted to ensure that our people, our safety, was not going to be overloaded and they were already being overloaded with calls. That was one of the things that showed we can’t do this safely.”

The cancellation of the fursuit parade was met with mixed receptions, as while some were disappointed that such a major event was canceled, many were understanding about it.

One fullsuiter, Vgerfox, stated that the cancellation was reasonable, especially since Pittsburgh was experiencing high heat and humidity. Vgerfox stated “I think they made the right call to pull the parade as disappointing as it was, with how hot it’s been it would’ve been a recipe for disaster.”

As a Dallas native the fullsuiter noted that the heat in his town is different from Pittsburgh`s heatwave: while Texas has dry heat, Pittsburgh was experiencing wet heat. The major difference being that during wet heat, sweat cannot evaporate, thus leading people more vulnerable to overheating.

Several other fursuiters shared the same sentiment as Vgerfox as overheating and heat stroke were prominent. Sephyr was in full suit for the first time and suffered heat stroke during the convention, and understands the decision. “We can’t blame Anthrocon for this, it’s the weather. It’s bad timing,” lamented the fursuiter, “I think it would be better if we put it at a better time when it’s not hot.”

For some fursuiters, the parade cancellation was a disappointment and felt defeated. This is the notion felt by attendee Foxhowls, who spent an additional 300 dollars on a cosplay for his fursuit to show at the parade. Foxhowls came to Anthrocon hoping to participate, and left disappointed that Anthrocon should’ve handled it better.

“I get the concern, but I do think we’re grown adults that can make decisions,” said the cosplayer, “Anthrocon is an expensive con and people came out here to experience it. So when people pay 90 not to do that it feels like a waste.”

When asked about what Anthrocon should do to fix this, Foxhowls believes that Anthrocon should have a system for reg where attendees can select what they want to do at the con pay accordingly. That way if they wanna do the fursuit parade and it gets canceled, they can get reimbursed and not pay for things they aren’t going to do.

An A.I. generated drawing pad put on display in the Homewood Suites Hotel by Hilton. - Photo by swatchfodder.bsky.social

Artificial art crashes the party through welcoming hotel's ignorance

Aside from the heat Anthrocon also ran into accusations of A.I. after an unaffiliated sign with A.I. Generative images were spotted in the Homewood Suites hotel by Hilton. It was first posted to Twitter on Thursday, which prompted a response from Anthrocon the following day:

We feel AI slop is unacceptable. Not only does it cheapen our entire community, but it damages the reputation and morale of our artists. We strongly believe that it is art theft. It is certainly not fun to always be questioning what you see. Anthrocon prides itself on being Al slop-free. Thank you to those who brought use of AI by a partner hotel to our attention - your vigilance in this way helps ensure our community feels heard and supported. Anthrocon will redouble its efforts to work with all our partner businesses and hotels to provide them with licensed art and branding in the future.

After the announcement, the partner hotel removed the doodle pad and issued an apology, now aware of the negative reputation A.I. has in the fandom.

Artists at the convention were left with a sour taste that a partner hotel would use A.I. in a fandom known for art. To the artists in artists alley, such as Mad Artist, it was insulting. The artist appreciated the response from Anthrocon, but still believes it was a disgrace that the hotel would use A.I. art.

“How dare they try to take away one of the very good things about humanity,” remarked the artist, “the creativity, the passion.”

The A.I. The scare didn’t stop at the hotel, as rumors also spread about the front banner and standees, claiming them to be generated. This led to Moth Monarch, the artist who created the banner, to come forward on bluesky to make a statement and share their work in progress on the banner. Monarch, who was in the dealer’s den, spoke out about this and discussed their process on making their art.

“I would never touch AI. Image generation is theft of all of our work and is legitimized by certain interests that I don’t agree with”, said the artist, “we have a community here based on creativity and it’s important to make things with intention and purpose.”

Monarch appreciated Anthrocon’s response and discussed how other artists working with Anthrocon share works in progress and sketches during the leadup season. They are all in consensus about only working with real art made by real people. Monarch wants to showcase more of the “human side” of the artists and focuses on their background, who they are, and what they contribute. Moth Monarch also bragged about how no A.I. can come up with himbo Mothman.

Dealer's Den - A Coversation with Gallacci

A sign at Steve Gallacci’s booth showing his comic Albedo and discussing his career as a creator in the furry fandom - Photo by Kamen

Those attending the dealer’s den this year were also greeted to a surprise visit by Steve Gallacci, one of the writers of the original furry comics: Albedo. Gallachi not only had a section in the dealer's den in Chakat Windshear`s Wares, but also hosted a panel called “Everything You Wanted to Know About Albedo” on Friday. The panel focused on not only Albedo, but Gallacci’s time developing furry comics before furry became as big as it was now.

In the dealer’s den Gallacci was selling copies of Albedo and promoting his website, while also reflecting on returning to Anthrocon for his second time after being guest of honor. Notably, Gallacci welcomed the creativity and advancement of the fandom.

“One of the nicest thing about the fandom in general is that it isn’t simply a consumer fandom, a very broad part of the fandom are actively creators, especially artists and crafters,” stated Gallacci, “I think it’s a fine great thing, and very jazzed to see the breath and depth to see what is done nowadays.”

Gallacci isn’t the only surprise attendee, as Anthrocon saw attendees come from not only North America, but Latin America and Europe. The Mexican convention Confuror had their mascot Yuri come up to take photos with Anthrocat. Attendees from Europe came also, with countries ranging from Austria to the United Kingdom.

European fursuiters Augie, Ame, and Jay posing for a photo during Anthrocon - Photo by Hex_the_Amazing_Boi

Europeans' perspective

For European fursuiters like Augie, Ame, and Jay, they share the same sentiment that American conventions go harder with expression at conventions than in Europe. They also noted that one thing they enjoyed that European cons don’t have: buzzballs.

“Seeing everybody so free and doing whatever they want it’s nice to see,” said Augie, “It’s nice to see everyone express themselves as hard as they can. And they also have buzzball.”

When discussing Anthrocon’s size, the group remarked that European conventions don’t necessarily have the growth to keep on growing like America. One stated that conventions are changing to accommodate for the growth of the furry fandom, like Eurofurence, which moved to the Congress Center Hamburg in 2023 to accommodate for the growth. Since then Eurofurence has gone on to become the largest furry convention outside of North America.

Preparing for Anthrocon's 30th year

As Anthrocon moves on, they look towards 2027, where Anthrocon announced its theme to be “LEVEL 30:BEGIN” to coincide with Anthrocon’s 30th anniversary.

As Anthrocon closes and looks towards their 30th anniversary next year, K.P. reflects on a quote he said at a panel last year, “Say what you are, don’t say what you aren’t” and how that applies to Anthrocon going forward.

“I’m always happy to hear someone come up to me and say `I had a great weekend`,” said the director “I hear people tell me `This experience changed me, thank you for making this better than I thought it would be.` That’s the kind of thing that makes me feel like we’re successful, and if we can tell people what we are and they come back and say wow, we did a good job.”

K.P. and Anthrocon as a whole hope to remedy the mistakes of this year as they prepare to bring Anthrocon back to Pittsburgh in July for their 30th anniversary after celebrating 20 years in Pittsburgh.