TawnyCon 2006 Con Report...and Fursuiting, Yay
Well, not an actual con per se, but we did a lot of con-ish things this past weekend. And fursuiting galore!
I invited anuwolf, foxymoonheart, summervixen, kiowolf, and ctnijo up for some overnighting goodness this past weekend. Everyone, save Kio, arrive Friday night. Kio arrived Saturday afternoon.
Friday was "check-in" day. Getting things unpacked and the like. Not a lot happened, except for "movie night" and a "panel discussion" *grins naughtily*.
Saturday it was "field trip" day out to the Maine Wildlife Park in Gray. Foxies, bobcats, cougars, oh my. Oh yes, the five of us were all in our tails. Back to my place for dinner and a movie. And sleep, since Sunday was the main event.
The focus of the weekend was gearing up for the fursuiting event on Sunday. A small group of us had been invited to the Squam Lakes Natual Science Center in Holderness, NH. I'm known there, and they know I have access to fursuiters. They wanted to have some costumed greeters for NH Day, the first weekend of the season.
Even only with 5 hours of sleep, everyone was relatively awake at 6am. Hopped in the cars, and off we were for the 2 hour drive to NH. We arrived just in time to hit the first wave of visitors.
We had been told to expect 800-1000 visitors. They weren't kidding.
Quick! Into the suits! I made sure Kio, Anu, and Summer were out first and I introduced them to the volunteers. The minute we exited the changing room, we could hear the gasps and giggles. We could tell this was going to be a smashing success. After everyone was well established, I got into suit as well.
This was a pretty big day for Anu, who had never suited in an event situation like this. He was a bit nervous, but he far outdid everyone's expectations, especially his own. We all knew he would do pretty well, but man did he take to it like a duck to water. Or would that be a wolf to deer? He was frikin amazing. He had lines of children forming to hug him (as did Summer and Kio).
This was also a big day for me as well. This was the first public suiting event since the Penguin Plunge ( more about that here). It was incredibly important for me that NH Day went perfectly. If it did not, there would have been a good chance that I may have given up public fursuiting for good.
I did hesitate a little while putting on my suit, but brushed it off as nothing more than a little stage fright. I opened the door and heard "Ooh, there's another one!" Yay. I got all squishy grinny. I had a great time.
Todd took something like 500 photos (super-thanks, hon *smek*) of us. It's really important for me to see how I did. Not too bad, but I still need to relax and play a little. I look so stiff and "human" when compared to Summer, Kio, and Anu. But that will take just a little more time and practice.
See a small sample of the photos!
After about 2 hours in suit, we were done. Well, Anu and Kio were so pumped they could have gone for another couple of hours. Ah, the stamina of youth....
All in all, this weekend was fantastic. It showed me that I could host some furs, and it proved to me that I can (under the right circumstances) suit in public. My greatest fear was that the weekend would suck eggs and everyone would hate me for making them drive the long miles to get here. I was very anxious, so much so, that I cancelled and uncancelled the weekend at least once.
The only drama of the weekend originated from me. My fears got the best of me, and I did what I normally do in situations like this: I stuck my head in the sand and hid. Rather than staying the course, I cancelled the weekend, then uncancelled, then probably cancelled again. This left several furs (including all of the original attendees) wondering what in the Heck was going on. They had to make plans, and had a long drive ahead of them, and my wishy-washyness was not helping in the slightest. Lesson learned: be clear in my communications, and think hard before making rash decisions.
So, to Anu, Kio, Todd, and Autumn: thank you so much for calming my frazzled nerves. That conference IM session really helped tremendously.
I invited anuwolf, foxymoonheart, summervixen, kiowolf, and ctnijo up for some overnighting goodness this past weekend. Everyone, save Kio, arrive Friday night. Kio arrived Saturday afternoon.
Friday was "check-in" day. Getting things unpacked and the like. Not a lot happened, except for "movie night" and a "panel discussion" *grins naughtily*.
Saturday it was "field trip" day out to the Maine Wildlife Park in Gray. Foxies, bobcats, cougars, oh my. Oh yes, the five of us were all in our tails. Back to my place for dinner and a movie. And sleep, since Sunday was the main event.
The focus of the weekend was gearing up for the fursuiting event on Sunday. A small group of us had been invited to the Squam Lakes Natual Science Center in Holderness, NH. I'm known there, and they know I have access to fursuiters. They wanted to have some costumed greeters for NH Day, the first weekend of the season.
Even only with 5 hours of sleep, everyone was relatively awake at 6am. Hopped in the cars, and off we were for the 2 hour drive to NH. We arrived just in time to hit the first wave of visitors.
We had been told to expect 800-1000 visitors. They weren't kidding.
Quick! Into the suits! I made sure Kio, Anu, and Summer were out first and I introduced them to the volunteers. The minute we exited the changing room, we could hear the gasps and giggles. We could tell this was going to be a smashing success. After everyone was well established, I got into suit as well.
This was a pretty big day for Anu, who had never suited in an event situation like this. He was a bit nervous, but he far outdid everyone's expectations, especially his own. We all knew he would do pretty well, but man did he take to it like a duck to water. Or would that be a wolf to deer? He was frikin amazing. He had lines of children forming to hug him (as did Summer and Kio).
This was also a big day for me as well. This was the first public suiting event since the Penguin Plunge ( more about that here). It was incredibly important for me that NH Day went perfectly. If it did not, there would have been a good chance that I may have given up public fursuiting for good.
I did hesitate a little while putting on my suit, but brushed it off as nothing more than a little stage fright. I opened the door and heard "Ooh, there's another one!" Yay. I got all squishy grinny. I had a great time.
Todd took something like 500 photos (super-thanks, hon *smek*) of us. It's really important for me to see how I did. Not too bad, but I still need to relax and play a little. I look so stiff and "human" when compared to Summer, Kio, and Anu. But that will take just a little more time and practice.
See a small sample of the photos!
After about 2 hours in suit, we were done. Well, Anu and Kio were so pumped they could have gone for another couple of hours. Ah, the stamina of youth....
All in all, this weekend was fantastic. It showed me that I could host some furs, and it proved to me that I can (under the right circumstances) suit in public. My greatest fear was that the weekend would suck eggs and everyone would hate me for making them drive the long miles to get here. I was very anxious, so much so, that I cancelled and uncancelled the weekend at least once.
The only drama of the weekend originated from me. My fears got the best of me, and I did what I normally do in situations like this: I stuck my head in the sand and hid. Rather than staying the course, I cancelled the weekend, then uncancelled, then probably cancelled again. This left several furs (including all of the original attendees) wondering what in the Heck was going on. They had to make plans, and had a long drive ahead of them, and my wishy-washyness was not helping in the slightest. Lesson learned: be clear in my communications, and think hard before making rash decisions.
So, to Anu, Kio, Todd, and Autumn: thank you so much for calming my frazzled nerves. That conference IM session really helped tremendously.