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Bewhiskered 2021
4 years ago
General
I know that I've been wanting to go back to a FurCon again; somewhere in the back of my mind.
I guess it's easy to forget why I go to these things when they aren't happening and are once again far out of reach. I had no idea how much I needed this until it was over.
Bewhiskered is a first-year con this year. They aren't the first to return to meatspace operation (I believe that honor goes to Biggest Little in Reno), but I believe they are the first brand new, first-year con to launch post-pandemic in "real life". They are the sister-con to Blue Ridge Furfaire; both taking place in North Carolina. Both cons are run by the same team of people, the NC Anthro Society. As an additional fun-fact, Blue Ridge Furfaire was the very last convention in the fandom to have a normal con year in 2020....which was also it's first year! Crazy right? What a massive challenge for this team of people, trying to run a real convention for the first time! They did not crumple under the weight of the challenge though; instead they rose to it.
The staff's commitment to safety was largely what made the con possible. Proof of vaccination required to enter and a mask policy that is strictly enforced. It sounds so simple but that's all they needed to do and it worked. Because the staff was on it we could focus on the con and not worry so much.
And wow, was it great to see you people again. You all reminded me why I haven't left yet. The people are what make the fandom what it is.
Getting to do the whole con experience...driving somewhere new, staying there for a few days, eating good food, making new friends, buying more swag and supporting another charity...like, it's not easy especially when you gotta drive for four hours...but it's so worth it.
The only problem with the con was that the convention staff deliberately capped the amount of attendees; after all the pre-reggers admission tickets sold out in the early hours of the first day. Unlike what happened with Blue Ridge, they did it on-purpose. It left a bad taste in my mouth, and made the con feel artificially too small (there were only four vendors, for example). So, I don't know the exact details, but I was told in the case of Blue Ridge they were screwed over at the last minute by their hotel. For Bewhiskered I was told that some kind of NC law allows only so many people inside a hotel, even if a portion of those people are only visitors. I was told it was a law related to fire codes but well...this is the only con I've ever been to that has had such a population cap. There's no way a state as backwards as NC has stricter fire codes than the rest of the US. There was also a miscommunication during the charity auction that resulted in my losing a one-of-a-kind piece of con history that I had won...which I'm still confused about. But that's small potatoes.
The con was great. The Carolinas have their own con(s) now, and that is super exciting.
Whatever the case may be, Bewhiskered has gotten off to a promising start. It will be interesting to see how it fares in the future considering its history is parallel with the pandemic's.
I guess it's easy to forget why I go to these things when they aren't happening and are once again far out of reach. I had no idea how much I needed this until it was over.
Bewhiskered is a first-year con this year. They aren't the first to return to meatspace operation (I believe that honor goes to Biggest Little in Reno), but I believe they are the first brand new, first-year con to launch post-pandemic in "real life". They are the sister-con to Blue Ridge Furfaire; both taking place in North Carolina. Both cons are run by the same team of people, the NC Anthro Society. As an additional fun-fact, Blue Ridge Furfaire was the very last convention in the fandom to have a normal con year in 2020....which was also it's first year! Crazy right? What a massive challenge for this team of people, trying to run a real convention for the first time! They did not crumple under the weight of the challenge though; instead they rose to it.
The staff's commitment to safety was largely what made the con possible. Proof of vaccination required to enter and a mask policy that is strictly enforced. It sounds so simple but that's all they needed to do and it worked. Because the staff was on it we could focus on the con and not worry so much.
And wow, was it great to see you people again. You all reminded me why I haven't left yet. The people are what make the fandom what it is.
Getting to do the whole con experience...driving somewhere new, staying there for a few days, eating good food, making new friends, buying more swag and supporting another charity...like, it's not easy especially when you gotta drive for four hours...but it's so worth it.
The only problem with the con was that the convention staff deliberately capped the amount of attendees; after all the pre-reggers admission tickets sold out in the early hours of the first day. Unlike what happened with Blue Ridge, they did it on-purpose. It left a bad taste in my mouth, and made the con feel artificially too small (there were only four vendors, for example). So, I don't know the exact details, but I was told in the case of Blue Ridge they were screwed over at the last minute by their hotel. For Bewhiskered I was told that some kind of NC law allows only so many people inside a hotel, even if a portion of those people are only visitors. I was told it was a law related to fire codes but well...this is the only con I've ever been to that has had such a population cap. There's no way a state as backwards as NC has stricter fire codes than the rest of the US. There was also a miscommunication during the charity auction that resulted in my losing a one-of-a-kind piece of con history that I had won...which I'm still confused about. But that's small potatoes.
The con was great. The Carolinas have their own con(s) now, and that is super exciting.
Whatever the case may be, Bewhiskered has gotten off to a promising start. It will be interesting to see how it fares in the future considering its history is parallel with the pandemic's.
As for the attendance cap, that is a restriction set by local jurisdiction according to national fire codes. All venues have them, whether it be a hotel or a conference center. Small hotel or venue, small con. Bigger venue, bigger con. I heard that one year the MFF hotel got fined for being over capacity.
Tickets were on sale for about 6 months, and sold out about 3 or 4 weeks before the con. A lot of people got caught, because one day there were about 60 tickets left, the next day they were gone. Same happened with BRFF.
All that aside, it was great to see you at Bewhiskered, even though I didn't have the opportunity to talk much. Geez, they kept me busy!
I do agree with you, the staff did a great job at running the con.
Also, would love to talk to you more about your question you asked at the design panel. It's an important topic.
I don't know. Maybe I've just been really lucky or ignorant? I've never once seen or heard of FWA hitting a cap. I know AnthroCon gets around this by hosting the convention in an actual Convention Center instead of a hotel, and MFF has been doing the same in recent years...both are huge cons that spread their attendees over multiple hotels. Actually I guess FWA does some of that too with the four big hotels right in that same area and connected by skybridge. But even smaller ones I've been to; there was never any discussion of a cap. FangCon...FursonaCon....nada.
Yeah, it is an important topic. I felt compelled to bring it up. I've seen people fursuit in all kinds of different situations. I have seen blind, deaf, and mobility-restricted suiters. I'm not all sure what goes into designing suits around that, if anything. I think probably most people just buy the suit and adapt to it after the fact.
Both BRFF and BWC had caps due to the small hotel size. At BWS, I noticed in the main events room there was a permanent sign that restricted occupancy to 105 people (Sign is required by code). I didn't see one for the panel room, but based on experience, I would have put that one around 50 people max.
The dealers den at any con restricts number of occupants, especially when it first opens. There's always a multiple hour wait at BLFC to get in when it first opens..
MFF had to move to the convention center, especially after the hotel got fined for being over capacity. Larger cons hedge their bets that not everyone is going to be in con space at the same time. The Marquis where FWA is held, has a capacity of at least 6k or more people. The con hasn't outgrown the space yet...
Totally agree. Whether it's a sensory or physical handicap, it should be addressed when constructing a fursuit.