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Furcationland 2025 Report, Day Three (Sun. April 13)
6 months ago
Awake by 5:45am (see a pattern), but I did actually sleep most of the night. Roommate gets up and is in a new bind. She spent part of Saturday trying to secure another room for Sunday evening and couldn’t do so. She would need to take the bus home that afternoon but needs somewhere to stash her stuff until then and can’t find anywhere else to put it. Stuff goes in my car as I need to check-out prior to starting my morning shift with registration. While registration is nowhere near as busy on Sunday as the previous days, it’s the same issue time and again, as individuals couldn’t see a day pass option up front on the website, they assume, they must come here to do it. All are patient and understanding as I explain the process and walk them through it.
Roommate calls just before noon. Fortunately, she has found someone willing to swing by her place on their way home to drop her stuff off for her, saving her the hassle of needing to cart it with her on her power chair or trying to track me down when she must leave. So, I head down right at noon, meet the other individual and low and behold, we’re practically parked next to each other, which makes the switch easy. While down there, I eat my other pre-made salad. I had planned to support the hotel lounge, but for some reason they chose to be closed that Sunday despite a hotel full of hungry people. Oh well, their loss. My body didn’t reject this salad, fortunately.
After lunch, I peak back at the volunteer desk. They look me up in the hours tracking system. Hey, you are two hours shy of qualifying for a basic membership (registration) for next year. Alas, it looks like we’re all set this afternoon. GRRRR…same thing happened to me last year. Fine. I peak back in at registration, which is starting to pack things up. Five minutes after I leave registration, a call goes-out looking for a volunteer and they missed me. Oh well. After some walking around to kill time and sitting in the supersponsor lounge, it’s time for Furry Feud. Fun time as always. “Name something Kovu (con chair) does when not at the con”. Number 1 Answer: Sleeping, which is kind of an in-joke among staff and volunteers who realize staff don’t get much sleep at the con.
When that wraps-up, I walk by the volunteer desk, not intentionally, it’s due to the layout of the con space. I get flagged down. They now have a two-hour opening for badge checks if I didn’t mind missing closing ceremonies. To be honest, I was getting ready to leave at that point, but I’ll hang around and score that membership pass. Two hours becomes closer to three before I’m told that things are all set despite closing running over time. In total I put in just over 19 hours. Quick call to The Rev to give her my ETA and I make the drive home, stopping for fast food at the half-way point (only real exit between there and home with fast food/other restaurants immediately off the exit), pulling into The Squirrels’ Nest at nearly 10pm. I’m glad I took Monday off as a recovery day.
Alas, despite requests on social media, I don’t get final numbers until they’re posted on the con website a couple days later. The con had 1,677 attendees, just shy of my prediction of 1,700. I bet we’d have been over that 1,700 figure if it weren’t for the weather on Saturday (or the current US political climate). $11K raised for the charity. Over 400 fursuitors. No official count with the cancelled parade. The only other thing I don’t know as of this post is next year’s theme and dates if they have been set with the hotel.
So, between year one and two, 50% attendance increase. Between year two and year three (this year) another 40% attendance increase. At this rate, expect close to 2,400 attendees next year and they’ll be in trouble in another two to three years as they’ll outgrow this con facility and there isn’t anywhere else to move into or expand into. Yes, one of the overflow hotels two blocks north has another 15K square feet (1.4K square meters) of con space, BUT now you’re dealing with two different companies and a whole lot of logistical nightmares. There are two other facilities in the state larger than this one, but neither is conveniently near good transportation: The largest is in Augusta, an hour north of Portland, which gets three subsidized tiny puddlejumper flights a day and I doubt there are enough hotels in the city to accommodate this many attendees despite having the largest convention center in the state. And Bangor, two hours north of Portland, which does have a commercial jetport, but a lot less flights than Portland. It probably has enough hotel rooms if you take over every hotel/motel in the city at which you’d need a shuttle system like at the giant cons. So, the current facility in Portland is the only real option. Perhaps a registration cap at some point in the future? Who knows.
Roommate calls just before noon. Fortunately, she has found someone willing to swing by her place on their way home to drop her stuff off for her, saving her the hassle of needing to cart it with her on her power chair or trying to track me down when she must leave. So, I head down right at noon, meet the other individual and low and behold, we’re practically parked next to each other, which makes the switch easy. While down there, I eat my other pre-made salad. I had planned to support the hotel lounge, but for some reason they chose to be closed that Sunday despite a hotel full of hungry people. Oh well, their loss. My body didn’t reject this salad, fortunately.
After lunch, I peak back at the volunteer desk. They look me up in the hours tracking system. Hey, you are two hours shy of qualifying for a basic membership (registration) for next year. Alas, it looks like we’re all set this afternoon. GRRRR…same thing happened to me last year. Fine. I peak back in at registration, which is starting to pack things up. Five minutes after I leave registration, a call goes-out looking for a volunteer and they missed me. Oh well. After some walking around to kill time and sitting in the supersponsor lounge, it’s time for Furry Feud. Fun time as always. “Name something Kovu (con chair) does when not at the con”. Number 1 Answer: Sleeping, which is kind of an in-joke among staff and volunteers who realize staff don’t get much sleep at the con.
When that wraps-up, I walk by the volunteer desk, not intentionally, it’s due to the layout of the con space. I get flagged down. They now have a two-hour opening for badge checks if I didn’t mind missing closing ceremonies. To be honest, I was getting ready to leave at that point, but I’ll hang around and score that membership pass. Two hours becomes closer to three before I’m told that things are all set despite closing running over time. In total I put in just over 19 hours. Quick call to The Rev to give her my ETA and I make the drive home, stopping for fast food at the half-way point (only real exit between there and home with fast food/other restaurants immediately off the exit), pulling into The Squirrels’ Nest at nearly 10pm. I’m glad I took Monday off as a recovery day.
Alas, despite requests on social media, I don’t get final numbers until they’re posted on the con website a couple days later. The con had 1,677 attendees, just shy of my prediction of 1,700. I bet we’d have been over that 1,700 figure if it weren’t for the weather on Saturday (or the current US political climate). $11K raised for the charity. Over 400 fursuitors. No official count with the cancelled parade. The only other thing I don’t know as of this post is next year’s theme and dates if they have been set with the hotel.
So, between year one and two, 50% attendance increase. Between year two and year three (this year) another 40% attendance increase. At this rate, expect close to 2,400 attendees next year and they’ll be in trouble in another two to three years as they’ll outgrow this con facility and there isn’t anywhere else to move into or expand into. Yes, one of the overflow hotels two blocks north has another 15K square feet (1.4K square meters) of con space, BUT now you’re dealing with two different companies and a whole lot of logistical nightmares. There are two other facilities in the state larger than this one, but neither is conveniently near good transportation: The largest is in Augusta, an hour north of Portland, which gets three subsidized tiny puddlejumper flights a day and I doubt there are enough hotels in the city to accommodate this many attendees despite having the largest convention center in the state. And Bangor, two hours north of Portland, which does have a commercial jetport, but a lot less flights than Portland. It probably has enough hotel rooms if you take over every hotel/motel in the city at which you’d need a shuttle system like at the giant cons. So, the current facility in Portland is the only real option. Perhaps a registration cap at some point in the future? Who knows.
