Eurofurence

Eurofurence (commonly abbreviated EF) is a furry convention, initially held in changing places in Europe every year, but staying in Germany since 2004. It was originally started in 1995 as a private gathering by nineteen European furry fans who met on the Internet. Attendance has been steadily rising since then, to 5,241 at Eurofurence 28 (held in 2024), making it the largest furry convention outside the United States and seventh largest worldwide^[1]. The name of the convention derives from its then-contemporary American counterpart ConFurence, emphasising the European nature of the gathering.

Eurofurence
Fursuiters at Eurofurence 2014
Status	Active
Genre	Furry
Frequency	Annually
Venue	Congress Center
Location(s)	Hamburg, Germany
Coordinates	53°33′42.47″N 9°59′9.36″E
Country	Germany
Inaugurated	30 June 1995 (1995-06-30)
Attendance	5241 (Eurofurence 28)
Organised by	Eurofurence e.V.
Website	www.eurofurence.org

Since the year 2000, Eurofurence is no longer organized by individual persons but rather by the German Verein Eurofurence e.V., which serves as an administrative body for the convention.

Contrary to most American furry conventions, Eurofurence traditionally took place at youth hostels. In 2007, Eurofurence was first held at a hotel (the Hotel Ringberg in Suhl).

Graph of attendees at Eurofurence by year

Eurofurence by year

Below is a table of statistics regarding each year Eurofurence has been held. Since 1999 (possibly except for 6 and 9), the convention has had at least one guest of honour yearly. Since 2002, the convention has had a "theme" every year, with T-shirt designs and venue "dressing" to reflect the theme.

Convention	Dates	Location	Attendance[2]	Theme	Guest(s) of Honour
Eurofurence 1	30 June–3 July 1995	Kaiser-Wilhelm-Koog, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany	19	N/A	N/A
Eurofurence 2	18–22 July 1996	Linköping, Östergötland, Sweden	35
Eurofurence 3	21–24 August 1997	Bodstedt, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany[3]	59
Eurofurence 4	1–5 August 1998	Heeze, North Brabant, Netherlands	94
Eurofurence 5	22–25 July 1999	Berlin, Germany	112		Lisanne Norman, author of the Sholan Alliance series of books
Eurofurence 6	10–13 August 2000	Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany	160		Unknown
Eurofurence 7	22–25 July 2001	Kirchen (Sieg), Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany	230		Lisanne Norman; Lee "Chairo" Strom, Fursuiter, Puppeteer, and member of the Further Confusion organising team since 2003; Mark Merlino, co-founder of ConFurence, the original Furry Convention
Eurofurence 8	15–18 August 2002	Oberbernhards, Hesse, Germany	260	The F.I.A. (Furry Intelligence Agency)	Dr Samuel "Uncle Kage" Conway, Chairman of Anthrocon
Eurofurence 9	21–24 August 2003	Samopše, Středočeský kraj, Czech Republic	165	Cunning Little Vixens	Dr Samuel "Uncle Kage" Conway, Chairman of Anthrocon
Eurofurence 10[lower-alpha 1]	26–29 August 2004	Olpe, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany	295	EFX : The Movie	Timothy Albee, Creator of Kaze: Ghost Warrior
Eurofurence XI	21–24 July 2005	Nürnberg, Bavaria, Germany	380	Songs of the Old Ages	Heather Alexander, Celtic Folk/World Rock Musician
Eurofurence 12	23–27 August 2006		405	The Hounds of Blackwhite Castle	Dark Natasha, furry artist, winner of Best Anthropomorphic Published Illustration at the Ursa Major Awards in 2002
Eurofurence 13	5–9 September 2007	Suhl, Thuringia, Germany[4][5][6]	585	The Unlucky Thirteen	Lance Ikegawa, costume designer and Steve Gallacci, Creator of Albedo.[lower-alpha 2] Alexander James Adams appeared as musical guest.[7]
Eurofurence 14	27–31 August 2008		777	From Dusk till Dawn	Watts Martin, writer and fanzine editor/publisher, and Steve Gallacci.[8]
Eurofurence 15	26–30 August 2009		955	1001 Arabian Nights	Jimmy Chin, furry artist and fursuiter
Eurofurence 16	1–5 September 2010	Magdeburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany	973	Serengeti	Stan Sakai, comic author, creator of Usagi Yojimbo
Eurofurence 17	17–21 August 2011		1,066	Kung Fur Hustle	Jim Martin, a distinguished Puppeteer
Eurofurence 18	29 August–2 September 2012		1,278	Animalia Romana	Peter S. Beagle, novel and fantasy fiction author, creator of The Last Unicorn[9]
Eurofurence 19	21–25 August 2013		1,376	Aloha Hawaii!	Warrick Brownlow-Pike, Andy Heath and Iestyn Evans from the BBC comedy "Mongrels"[10]
Eurofurence 20	20–24 August 2014	Berlin, Germany	2,015	CSI Berlin[11]	Kyell Gold, Ursula Vernon, Sofawolf Press and Sardyuon[12]
Eurofurence 21	19–23 August 2015		2,095	Greenhouse World[13]	Rhubarb the Bear and Cosmik[14]
Eurofurence 22	17–21 August 2016		2,573	Back to the 80s[15]	Dorothy Hearst,[16] Author of The Wolf Chronicles book trilogy
Eurofurence 23	16–20 August 2017		2,853	Ancient Egypt[17]	Pepper Coyote (Musician) and Clockwork Creature (costume and design studio)[18]
Eurofurence 24	22–26 August 2018		2,911	Aviators - Conquer the Sky[19]	Joaquin Baldwin (Animator, photographer)[20]
Eurofurence 25	14–18 August 2019		3,414	Fractures in Time[21]	Claudya 'AlectorFencer' Schmidt,[22] Author of Myre
Eurofurence 26	24–28 August 2022 (Originally 19–23 August 2020[23])		3,495	Welcome to Tortuga[24]	Fox Amoore and JoJoe[25]
Eurofurence 27	3–7 September 2023	Hamburg, Germany	3,408	Black Magic[26]	Pechschwinge[27]
Eurofurence 28	18–21 September 2024		5,241	Cyberpunk[28]	Iris Schleuss[29]

1. commonly called EFX by the organisation committee
2. Steve Gallacci was unable to attend the convention due to family matters.

Main events

• Pawpet show - Furry handpuppet story with custom plot, music and effects
• Enter the Arena - Fursuit dance contest
• Big Blue Dance - Disco with live DJ, light effects and live mixed background animations
• Group Photo
• Fursuit parade
• Art Auction - Bidding for art
• Dealers' Den - Possibility to sell/buy merchandise and art
• DDR Tournament

References

1. "List of in-person furry conventions by attendance". en.wikifur.com. Retrieved 9 October 2024.
2. "Eurofurence Archive". Eurofurence. Archived from the original on 20 July 2022. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
3. Staff writer (23 August 1997). "Internet-Fans treffen sich in Bodstedt". Ostsee-Zeitung (in German).
4. Frank Hommel (8 September 2007). "Mit 'nem Tiger im Fahrstuhl". Freies Wort (in German). p. 2. Archived from the original on 28 February 2009.
5. Heike Hüchtemann (8 September 2007). "Rollenspiele abseits des wirklichen Lebens". Freies Wort (in German). p. 13. Archived from the original on 7 July 2009.
6. Staff writer (8 September 2007). "Eine Welt für sich". Thüringer Allgemeine (in German).
7. Conference Guests Archived 8 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine page (2007).
8. Conference Guests Archived 14 September 2016 at the Wayback Machine page (2008).
9. Guest of Honor Archived 26 November 2012 at the Wayback Machine (2012).
10. Guests of Honor Archived 13 September 2016 at the Wayback Machine (2013)
11. "Eurofurence 20 - Crime Scene Berlin - Aug. 20. - 24., 2014". www.eurofurence.org. Archived from the original on 14 September 2016. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
12. "Guests of Honor". www.eurofurence.org. Archived from the original on 13 September 2016. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
13. "Eurofurence 21 - Greenhouse World (Aug. 19 - 23, 2015)". www.eurofurence.org. Archived from the original on 14 September 2016. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
14. "Our Guests of Honor - Eurofurence 21". www.eurofurence.org. Archived from the original on 14 September 2016. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
15. "Eurofurence 22 - Back to the 80s". www.eurofurence.org. Archived from the original on 14 September 2016. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
16. "Guests of Honor - Eurofurence 22". www.eurofurence.org. Archived from the original on 7 October 2016. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
17. "Eurofurence 23 - Ancient Egypt". www.eurofurence.org. Archived from the original on 30 June 2017. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
18. "Guests of Honor - Eurofurence 23". www.eurofurence.org. Archived from the original on 22 August 2017. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
19. "Eurofurence 24 »Aviators - Conquer the Sky!«". Eurofurence 24 - Aviators - Conquer the Sky!. Archived from the original on 17 May 2018. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
20. "Guest of Honor: Joaquin Baldwin". Eurofurence 24 - Aviators - Conquer the Sky!. Archived from the original on 8 March 2023. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
21. "Welcome". Eurofurence 25 - Fractures In Time. Archived from the original on 2 September 2018. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
22. "EF25 Hella Lots to Talk About!". Eurofurence 25 Schedule. Archived from the original on 8 March 2023. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
23. @Eurofurence (30 April 2020). "Friends, it is with deep regret that we must announce the cancellation of Eurofurence for 2020. We did not come to this decision lightly: the safety of our attendees, staff, hotel personnel and many others is paramount..." (Tweet) – via Twitter.
24. "Welcome". Eurofurence 26 - Welcome to Tortuga. Archived from the original on 24 August 2019. Retrieved 24 August 2019.
25. "Guests of Honor". Eurofurence 26 - Welcome to Tortuga - On the High Seas. Archived from the original on 15 December 2022. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
26. "Eurofurence 27: Home". Eurofurence 27 - Black Magic. Archived from the original on 15 December 2022. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
27. [e-mail]. "Eurofurence 27: Guests of Honor". Eurofurence 27 - Black Magic. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
28. "Eurofurence 28: Home". Eurofurence 28 - Cyberpunk. Archived from the original on 25 September 2024. Retrieved 25 September 2024.
29. "Eurofurence 28: Guests of Honor". Eurofurence 28 - Cyberpunk. Archived from the original on 25 September 2024. Retrieved 25 September 2024.

External links

• Official website