If you’re an “extremely online” furry, you may have been fooled into believing that DenFur, the Denver-area furry convention held by AEIOU, was an unmitigated disaster. There were reports of furries using duct tape to pin stickers, thereby damaging hotel wall paper, reports of alleged “unwelcome groping” by the lead organizer of the con, a temper tantrum from a furry who refused to remove his offensive jacket, and most of all, hotel staff cracking down on any gathering in hotel rooms.
Some of that stuff actually happened. It does appear that the hotel staff were less friendly to furries this year than in the past, and, as with so many big furry conventions, there were a few people causing trouble who probably should be kicked out.
Nevertheless, DenFur this year was a magnificent success. In fact, this year’s results launched DenFur into the mainstream as one of the major furcons in the US. Attendance went from 2,961 last year, which was impressive for 2022, to 4,232 this year; a whopping 43% increase year-on-year. While I am not the bureau of furry statistics, I daresay that DenFur is now the fastest-growing convention in the country. Let me explain what I think is the ‘why’ and the ‘how,’ and what this convention has been consistently getting right.
Trash the vax
DenFur was the first major furry convention in the Western states to end not only its vaccine mandate, but also the onerous mask mandate in the dealer’s den. The major California conventions and BLFC, conversely, have stubbornly clung to masks, vax mandates and booster requirements. DenFur made a bold move this year, and it clearly paid off with skyrocketing attendance.
Can the scammer
DenFur’s original organizer was the notorious Corgi Events, headed up by disgraced chairman Treble Vandoren, who has been accused multiple times of embezzlement, scamming and public intoxication. When Corgi turned their assets over to the new organization, AEIOU, there was much uncertainty as to whether Treble was still pulling the strings behind the scenes.
To their credit, AEIOU firmly removed Treble in August of 2022 on the convenient pretext of “transphobic comments.” Whatever the real reason, removing Treble, who lives in Wisconsin, was like getting the monkey off of this convention’s back. It cleared the air and allowed the new organization to focus on what mattered.
Remove the radicals
The removal of Treble did not stop complaints by the cartel of radical Denver leftists, most of whom identify as ‘transgender,’ which strongly influenced this convention from the start. What exactly happened remains somewhat opaque, but the Denver area radicals, for whatever reason, have largely bailed on DenFur. This culminated with the original charity, a Transgender Alpaca Ranch out in Custer County (yes, you read that right), dramatically cutting ties with DenFur.
Although DenFur had infuriated the leftist furry cartel and their precious little rural collective, the average Colorado furry kept showing up. The con survived just fine.
Fire the Furry Raiders
Last and certainly not least, DenFur has blanket-banned the organization known as the Furry Raiders since the con’s inception in 2018. The Furry Raiders are best known for wearing “Nazi armbands” to public furry events, but in reality are a group of anti-social attention seekers united mostly by a desire to annoy and provoke. Far worse than that, Foxler, the Colorado-based group leader, and his inner circle of friends who set the agenda there, are a collection of pedophiles and zoophiles who regularly commission ‘cub’ erotica and hold ‘ageplay’ voice sessions.
Make no mistake, DenFur banned the Raiders due to the innocuous armbands, not the rampant pedophilia, but the effect of keeping this group out has been a huge positive for everyone involved, regardless.
They will find another hotel!
Given the molehills of drama made into mountains by Furry Twitter, and the fact that the hotel venue appears not to want to renew their contract with DenFur, some have speculated that this convention is about to struggle for survival. Not at all. This was a con whose numbers started at around 2,000 in year one, and are now twice that, with no signs of that trend reversing. DenFur outgrew its venue. It needs a new, bigger place to call home. In a city like Denver, it will have little trouble finding one.
From my perch, DenFur has a bright future because AEIOU made a lot of difficult, but necessary moves in previous years. Those decisions are now coming to pay dividends. I predict that DenFur will rocket past events like BLFC and the big Cali conventions in attendance to become the biggest event out West, unless the latter organizations follow suit and drop the onerous vax-mask-booster mandates.
Either way, DenFur is in a perfect spot to rise in relevance.
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