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GUEST POST: Eberra Wolf (sounds like “a-BEAR-uh”) is an independent reporter from New York City, and focuses on the northeastern United States. He has been a furry since December 2022. Eberra is using community access to submit news as an on-the-scene correspondent – you can submit news here.

Furries playing outside in the courtyard of the Mount Laurel, N.J., DoubleTree on Saturday. (Eberra Wolf for Dogpatch Press.)

Furgeddaboutit had its inaugural convention over the weekend of May 2-4 in Mount Laurel, New Jersey. Created in reaction to Garden State Fur the Weekend, another New Jersey convention, it was held on the same weekend 47 miles southwest, about 50 minutes away by car.

By the end of both cons, comparison of the respective results would make an example for the global fandom to remember.

Furgeddaboutit was hosted by Furrydelphia, with staffing assistance from community groups Anthro Outdoor Adventures, Furgen County, The Furst State, and Pinefurs — though the plan is to eventually spin Furgeddaboutit off into an independent organization run by people in New Jersey. “The intention is that once this is over, we’ll be electing an actual board,” said Bangaroo, one of the people who spearheaded the convention. “Most of the people from outside of New Jersey are probably going to step down or step back,” including himself.

Opening ceremonies on Friday morning. (Eberra Wolf for Dogpatch Press.)

It was decided that it would be easier and faster to use Furrydelphia’s corporation to put cash upfront and sign contracts. Furrydelphia Inc., based in Philadelphia, PA, took money out of its cash reserves—likely a five digit sum—to put into running Furgeddaboutit, which it plans to recoup in its entirety. Cash left over is to be given to the entity that will host Furgeddaboutit, when it is established. Bangaroo added that “we’re trying to leave as much over for the future event to set something that’s bigger and more sustainable.”

The convention began planning back in December of last year—a lead time of six months, which is a very short amount of time to organize a furry convention. “The time between us realizing that we needed to do [this] and us announcing it was less than two weeks,” said Bangaroo.

A wedding event on Saturday, one among a few weddings who crossed paths with the furry convention. (Eberra Wolf for Dogpatch Press.)

Not only was there Garden State that was being held alongside Furgeddaboutit, there was also The Big One, a large, two-day furmeet hosted by Pawsouls nearer to Garden State. Even in the DoubleTree Mount Laurel where Furgeddaboutit took place at, there were several weddings happening alongside the convention, which it had to coordinate with. (Wedding season made it more challenging to find a hotel at an acceptable price on short notice.)

A bridesmaid posted on TikTok a short clip of them walking in the courtyard with furries cheering them on, which was widely-shared. Susan, the mother of one of the grooms this weekend was surprised at our presence but thought the convention was “wonderful.” The vendor hall had been booked by Furgeddaboutit until Saturday afternoon, where it was then used for wedding banquets for the remainder of the weekend.

Officially, Furgeddaboutit took a we-pretend-not-to-see-it stance towards Garden State. The website describes it as a “safe, friendly, furry place to spend May 2nd-4th, 2025,” distinguishing itself from Garden State if you read between the lines. Garden State was not mentioned by name by Furgeddaboutit staff, but it was clear what they were referring to when the con was brought up in conversation.

The con’s primary reason for starting up was to actively attract attendees and vendors from Garden State, and it worked. Garden State’s inaugural convention the year prior had 957 attendees. Their second year had only 348, less than half. By comparison, Furgeddaboutit had surpassed that in pre-registrations and check-ins by Friday morning, and 638 attendees by the end. Several dozen sources were consulted for this story, including five who went to both conventions.

Experiences at Garden State: “Something’s not quite right here”

Attendees and vendors who went to Garden State on Friday or Saturday described empty halls, sparsely-attended raves, a barren atmosphere, and not much to do. Several jumped ship during the weekend to go to Furgeddaboutit instead, many unaware of the controversy surrounding Garden State until they learned at the convention itself.

“It was dead,” a Garden State attendee who later went to Furgeddabout it said. “There was barely anybody.” Another said that, on Friday, “the main lobby only had a couple of people.” “Opening ceremony probably had between 30 to 50 people,” a third Garden State attendee said.

One attendee told me there were about a half dozen fursuiters participating in the fursuit games (though the attendee still enjoyed it). A sticker panel had no panelists, according to another attendee, who also said that events were being canceled during the convention. The sticker board itself had a deceptively-inflated amount of stickers, including one sticker that had not been made for years by a furry who was in New York during the convention. A third attendee said that the bug photography panel had only 30 minutes worth of material, despite being scheduled for 90 minutes.

Con ops, the control center of the convention, was not set up by Friday evening, according to a pair of attendees who needed assistance from that department. (They were reached out to by Furgeddaboutit and offered a discount on their registration.)

Rose Pup Supreme, who went to Garden State Fur The Weekend in 2024, found out about the event from flyers at Anthro New England. “As I went into Garden State Fur The Weekend, I didn’t really know what I was stepping into. And my experiences at Garden State Fur The Weekend were sort of bad overall” because of the staff, and specific “problematic” attendees, who staff were associating with. “I was just sort of like, Oh something’s not quite right here.”

She described to me how she reported a negative interaction with another attendee to the staff, who took down an incident report, but two times when she followed-up after the convention, she did not get a response. It was “[un]deniably uncomfortable that they didn’t respond.” That soured her experience. She wanted to vet new conventions more thoroughly after that.

Others did have empathy for the staff who committed to working there. “I don’t want to knock any individual staff members,” an attendee of both told me. “The ones we interacted with were objectively doing their best.”

Some people noticed that there were a lot of children at Garden State. “This very well might be their weird hobby that they had to beg their parents to let them go to a convention for,” one of them said. “And they arrive and it’s a room of 30 adults” who are not in their age range. “Nothing’s going on” for them, they added. “Nothing’s going on.” Those kids appeared to have moved to Furgeddaboutit, as on Saturday and Sunday, there were many playing around outside.

A dismaying experience came from a new congoer at Garden State, who posted on Bluesky: “first con i go to its fyre fest”, a video of first-time fursuiting at a sparse dance captioned “a whole rave just for me!!” and the unpleasant surprise of looking up con pics afterwards, and discovering a person he played games with was the con owner going incognito because of “very publically caught being a nazi but still wanna profit…”

Attendees and vendors were actively attracted to alternatives, consumer choice favored Furgeddaboutit

Vendors last year at Garden State said they had a good time then. Those who attended this year’s Garden State purchased booths on recommendation. Many found things were not as they expected.

At Garden State 2025, several vendors planned to or had already set up shop, but bailed and came to Furgeddaboutit. Vendors began packing up as soon as Friday afternoon, either to go home or to Furgeddaboutit. This continued throughout Saturday. Garden State had posted a dealer map of 27 vendors; but two vendors both estimated that they started out with 16, which dwindled to single-digits.

Twisted Tails Escape, a company who goes to furry conventions across the country to set up escape rooms, closed up shop Saturday morning “due to some unforseen [sic] circumstances and what appears to be some kind of stomach bug”.

Twisted Tails Escape heard criticism for going and said more to resolve it: “We were under the impression that GSFTW cut ties with Nazi furs and sympathizers. So we decided to give them the benefit of the doubt. We have not and never will associate ourselves with Nazi Furs. Additionally, due to recent information that has come to light regarding certain group members being seen on the premises at the convention, we made the decision to leave the convention early.”

Furgeddaboutit had done a push back in February to invite vendors, much closer to the convention weekend than is typical for organizing vendors, due to Furgeddaboutit being set up on relatively short notice. Invitations continued during the event.

Some vendors who were at Garden State Friday told me that Furgeddaboutit offered them a free booth, effectively encouraging them to cut losses and migrate. “It sounds like they’ve been creative and made more room as people needed to come in,” one vendor said.

Vendors who switched conventions mid-weekend worried that they would not recoup the cost of attending Garden State. One vendor told me that they wouldn’t have broken even on the cost of their booth if they had stayed the whole weekend. Several vendors said they paid $242 for their tables. One said they stayed because of not wanting to lose $242, when Garden State was “being ridiculous when it comes to refunding dealers who have opted to cancel their spot. They will only issue refunds if they get another vendor to take their place.”

Yvonne, a vendor, said she lost $475 on two booths at Garden State Fur The Weekend. (Eberra Wolf for Dogpatch Press.)

Of the vendors who backed out months in advance, only some got refunds, and only one directly from Garden State. Others were refunded by filing disputes with their bank, if Garden State refused. Yvonne, a vendor recovering from cancer treatment, said she paid $475 for a two-table booth, and was not refunded despite pulling out a month prior to the convention.

The vendors who switched mid-convention contrasted their experience with Furgeddaboutit, which they said was more lively. At Garden State, vendors played music to entertain themselves and entice customers. “Night and day,” an attendee of both conventions said. “Genuinely night and day.”

Charity for wildlife

Erin Rounds holds up a turtle while Jim Hansen talks about the animals. (Eberra Wolf for Dogpatch Press.)

Furg’s charity was Cedar Run Wildlife Refuge, based out of Medford, New Jersey. “In our wildlife hospital, we take in over 7,000 animals a year with the goal of [rehabilitating] and releasing them back into the wild,” said Ashley Krusen, who is the nature center and membership manager at Cedar Run. Cedar Run representatives go to schools, retirement homes, and festivals to do community outreach and education.

Cedar Run was “excited” to be invited to Furgeddaboutit. “Obviously we love animals,” Krusen said. On Saturday morning, director of education Erin Rounds and after-school coordinator Jim Hansen hosted a panel showing off animal parts and live animals. Rounds and Hansen brought two snakes and a turtle for attendees to look at. (The snakes were put in pillowcases so that they weren’t overstimulated during travel.) They also brought animal pelts and turtle shells for attendees to touch.

The wildlife refuge services pretty much all of New Jersey, and its outreach extends further north, out of state. “We’re the busiest wildlife refuge in all of South Jersey, and we can only service within New Jersey for wildlife rehabilitation services,” Krusen said.

The campus, in Medford, has a lake between its two buildings: the nature center and the hospital and rehabilitation center. The wildlife hospital and rehabilitation building can have almost 500 animals at a given time. There are also outdoor enclosures on the property. “We are primarily volunteer-based,” Krusen said. “We have almost 200 volunteers that help us out.”

Animals have stays for as short as two weeks; babies in the spring may be held for three months. Some animals brought to the hospital in the fall have to stay through the winter until conditions are suitable for their continued survival.

When releasing the animals back into native habitats, they’ll put the animal in a safe area near where the animal was found. Cedar Run doesn’t conduct follow-up work on the animals, though occasionally they will partner with the state to band birds.

Some animals are ‘habituated’ or ‘imprinted,’ animals that were raised by people before realizing that they’re wild, not pets. These are kept permanently because they’ll “never be able to live on their own in the wild,” Krusen says.

Lisa Franko (right) in front of a big pile of cash that attendees gave in the last-minute collection during closing ceremonies. (Eberra Wolf for Dogpatch Press.)

In all, $8,260 was raised for Cedar Run. Lisa Franko, director of development at the nonprofit, was on stage to represent it during closing ceremonies. She was ecstatic at the more than $1,000 donations that streamed in at the last minute from attendees cleaning out their wallets. Franko told the audience that by contrast, even at large fundraising events, Cedar Run only fundraises one or two thousand dollars.

‘Controlled burn’

An attendee plays with the fire billboard in the hotel hallway. Attendees could adjust where the needle pointed, from ‘low’ risk to ‘extreme’. (Eberra Wolf for Dogpatch Press.)

Furgeddaboutit’s theme was “Controlled burn,” and the convention’s mascot is an orange phoenix named Ashley. Nocturne designed Ashley, along with the logo and the badge. Ashley, like Nocturne, is non-binary. “It was a big move to make sort of a more fem mascot for a convention,” said Percey, another member of the art team. “A lot of the convention mascots always end up very masculine-presenting.”

Percey assisted Nocturne and drew the dealer’s den map. That drawing was quickly outdated as new vendors showed up, though some modifications were made onto the print, which was then auctioned off for charity.

Osiris Adustus created the fire danger risk billboard, which hung out in the event hallway outside the dealer’s den. Nocturne and Percey say it will likely be used again next year.

Keeping with that theme, early Monday morning the fire alarm at the DoubleTree went off around 1:39 AM. Two fire trucks came, and a Furgeddaboutit attendee was hastily packing up their luggage into their car from their first-floor room. According to the front desk, it was a guest who had tripped the smoke alarm. A fitting end to the convention.

– Eberra Wolf

Editor afterword

Dogpatch Press has been covering controversy about Garden State Fur The Weekend for over a year. The first report in 2024 said: “It’s not enough to dig out problems. You also have to fill in the hole.”

Furgeddaboutit is the fruit of such positive effort. These factors make it unprecedented:

Openly eschewing a pre-established con that draws support and attendance from the same region. Usually, cons aren’t meant to compete, but Garden State was already under investigation for unusual behavior that the community wouldn’t support.
Foundation by coalition with active but informal local groups. They cooperated to make an alternative to a formal event with first-start advantage, raising challenges for the plan to succeed. There were even multiple alternatives made.
Very short timing to successfully carry out the plan. Healthy attendance made a base to grow without being defined by other events going forward.

There’s also the way that Garden State struggled for control with deception, false advertising, mass purging of critics, and duress on vendors to unsuccessfully stave off controversy and people’s free choices to leave. When Garden State couldn’t grab goodwill by force, they tried blaming narratives of outsider takeover. Furrydelphia is close and staffed by New Jersey furries — compare to how chronic staff turnover left Garden State reliant on core organizers from Florida. Aggression by the Garden State head of PR led a critic to say: “Thank goodness he doesn’t live here”.

For many furries in New Jersey, Furgeddaboutit stood for what the community wanted and had collective power to organize, especially when they felt misrepresented until they acted. From this spark, the con represented how to adapt and thrive against adversity, and make a beacon to others who feel the same.

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