Awesome Time at Rocky Mountain Fur Con
I had a fantastic time this weekend. I had the great fortune to be the Guest of Honor at the Rocky Mountain Fur Con. It was held in Denver Colorado - an area of the country I had never been to before.
There's a lot of good things I can say about the weekend. First, Denver is an interesting place to fly to. Since I live in Vancouver (Canada), our first flight took us first to Portland and then a second to go over the Rocky Mountains to reach Denver. Both flights were interesting. The trip from Vancouver to Portland was in a smallish commercial propeller plane. While I could say I'd have felt more comfortable with a couple nice sturdy jets powering the plane, I really can't complain - the flight was smooth, quick, and comfortable. I'm used to driving through Washington state on my way to FC, so watching about a days drive slide by in under an hour was entertaining. The trip from Portland to Denver was anything by smooth; we were dealing with turbulence almost the entire way. On the other hand, the passage over the Rocky Mountains is stunning, and soaring into the high flat plains of Colorado during a thunderstorm was spectacular. A little scary, but gorgeous!
As for the con itself, this is a con I can definitely recommend. It's not a big con yet; there's still time and room to hang out with people you know and have a more personal experience with the events. The hotel is very nice, and the hotel staff seem genuinely happy to be hosting a furry convention. From a fursuiter point of view, this con is going to rapidly become one of the major cons out there. First, the convention staff are firmly devoted to keeping all the fursuiters comfortable, safe, and entertained. The dances were particularly good. Unlike some con dances I've encountered, the music was danceable and a lot of effort went into making the lighting cool. It was also great for glow-poi. The best thing - both for fursuiting and the con in general - is the 16th St Mall.
The 16th St "mall" is an experience in itself. When I think 'mall' I think of a large enclosed conglomeration of stores and boring chain-restaurants. Either that or a little strip-mall with a few stores in a vast wasteland of parking lot. This was something else entirely. It's a long wide street that cars are not allowed on. There are about 20 blocks of great restaurants and odd stores to explore. The urban architecture of the area is interesting day or night and feels both old and new at the same time. For those unable or too inebriated to walk, there are free mini-busses that run up and down the street as well as horse-drawn carriages. There always are pedestrians strolling up and down, and many of the restaurants have patios out front for people to enjoy. From a fursuiting viewpoint, this is a fantastic opportunity. Street performers are a normal sight on this street/mall, so the people are open and even eager to see fursuits. With that openness there are plenty of opportunities to interact with enthusiastic public. This is a great con for people who care about fursuit performance; the people of Denver genuinely enjoy seeing fursuits. I had the coincidental timing of eating lunch on the "mall" during both fursuit parades (Yep - two parades this year.) Because I wasn't wearing my con badge I had the opportunity to hear peoples honest reactions to the parade - it was both appreciative and entertained. With such a great venue connected to the con, I think this is going to quickly become on of the top cons for fursuiting.
One more note - I have never eaten better at any con. I admit, I'm a bit of a food snob; I happen to live in a neighborhood renown for good food. I'm spoiled with good food. That said, Denver seems to really know how to make things delicious! The 16th street "mall" is just packed with great restaurants. Even the con hotel cooked some remarkably tasty and reasonably priced dishes. It was great!
I really want to thank the entire staff of Rocky Mountain Fur Con! They are a great bunch of people. If there were any problems, I never saw them. They handled everything with grace and enthusiasm. I spent enough time with them to eagerly look forward to seeing them again. They are Good Peoples! They work together well. They work hard!! They have great ideas. And they're really devoted to making this convention grow and prosper and it shows.
I also want to thank the con art-track Guest of Honor - Keihound. We both were a bit shy at times, and having her there made the whole experience a lot easier. She is a great person to hang out with and my mate and I really enjoyed the time we shared with her.
This feels like it's getting a bit long. There's more I could say but I better stop for now. I highly recommend this con! It has a lot of great things going for it - especially for fursuiting and art. My Mate and I had a wonderful time and we hope to see you there next year!!
There's a lot of good things I can say about the weekend. First, Denver is an interesting place to fly to. Since I live in Vancouver (Canada), our first flight took us first to Portland and then a second to go over the Rocky Mountains to reach Denver. Both flights were interesting. The trip from Vancouver to Portland was in a smallish commercial propeller plane. While I could say I'd have felt more comfortable with a couple nice sturdy jets powering the plane, I really can't complain - the flight was smooth, quick, and comfortable. I'm used to driving through Washington state on my way to FC, so watching about a days drive slide by in under an hour was entertaining. The trip from Portland to Denver was anything by smooth; we were dealing with turbulence almost the entire way. On the other hand, the passage over the Rocky Mountains is stunning, and soaring into the high flat plains of Colorado during a thunderstorm was spectacular. A little scary, but gorgeous!
As for the con itself, this is a con I can definitely recommend. It's not a big con yet; there's still time and room to hang out with people you know and have a more personal experience with the events. The hotel is very nice, and the hotel staff seem genuinely happy to be hosting a furry convention. From a fursuiter point of view, this con is going to rapidly become one of the major cons out there. First, the convention staff are firmly devoted to keeping all the fursuiters comfortable, safe, and entertained. The dances were particularly good. Unlike some con dances I've encountered, the music was danceable and a lot of effort went into making the lighting cool. It was also great for glow-poi. The best thing - both for fursuiting and the con in general - is the 16th St Mall.
The 16th St "mall" is an experience in itself. When I think 'mall' I think of a large enclosed conglomeration of stores and boring chain-restaurants. Either that or a little strip-mall with a few stores in a vast wasteland of parking lot. This was something else entirely. It's a long wide street that cars are not allowed on. There are about 20 blocks of great restaurants and odd stores to explore. The urban architecture of the area is interesting day or night and feels both old and new at the same time. For those unable or too inebriated to walk, there are free mini-busses that run up and down the street as well as horse-drawn carriages. There always are pedestrians strolling up and down, and many of the restaurants have patios out front for people to enjoy. From a fursuiting viewpoint, this is a fantastic opportunity. Street performers are a normal sight on this street/mall, so the people are open and even eager to see fursuits. With that openness there are plenty of opportunities to interact with enthusiastic public. This is a great con for people who care about fursuit performance; the people of Denver genuinely enjoy seeing fursuits. I had the coincidental timing of eating lunch on the "mall" during both fursuit parades (Yep - two parades this year.) Because I wasn't wearing my con badge I had the opportunity to hear peoples honest reactions to the parade - it was both appreciative and entertained. With such a great venue connected to the con, I think this is going to quickly become on of the top cons for fursuiting.
One more note - I have never eaten better at any con. I admit, I'm a bit of a food snob; I happen to live in a neighborhood renown for good food. I'm spoiled with good food. That said, Denver seems to really know how to make things delicious! The 16th street "mall" is just packed with great restaurants. Even the con hotel cooked some remarkably tasty and reasonably priced dishes. It was great!
I really want to thank the entire staff of Rocky Mountain Fur Con! They are a great bunch of people. If there were any problems, I never saw them. They handled everything with grace and enthusiasm. I spent enough time with them to eagerly look forward to seeing them again. They are Good Peoples! They work together well. They work hard!! They have great ideas. And they're really devoted to making this convention grow and prosper and it shows.
I also want to thank the con art-track Guest of Honor - Keihound. We both were a bit shy at times, and having her there made the whole experience a lot easier. She is a great person to hang out with and my mate and I really enjoyed the time we shared with her.
This feels like it's getting a bit long. There's more I could say but I better stop for now. I highly recommend this con! It has a lot of great things going for it - especially for fursuiting and art. My Mate and I had a wonderful time and we hope to see you there next year!!