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Oklacon Has Some Big Changes to Announce!!
10 years ago
Dear Oklahoma Furry Community,
For twelve years, fellow Oklahoma furs have put together a local gathering that grew from a little camping group called Oklacon into a big source of pride for our community - the largest outdoor furry convention in the world, right here in our great state. Since 2003, countless furs have pitched in a hand, met other furs for the first time, and make lifelong friends at our weekend event every October. For those of us fortunate to have gone for one, two, or all twelve years, it's been an experience we cherish for the life-long friendships we've made there, and we've even shared in the joy of hosting a wedding or two along the way.
A lot has changed in twelve years! Many faces have changed both at the con and behind the scenes as furs come and go from the community - though many have stayed the same. Together, we made a mess of the kitchen, sang songs into the wee hours of the morning around the campfire, and joined in probably the best weekend experience of many of our lives in Roman Nose State Park for many years. It's been an awesome journey.
Long journeys have their share of elation and heartbreak, and Oklacon is no exception. Some of you have been personally involved with awesome outcomes or trying times, and if you have, you understand better than most the emotional rollercoaster and hard work that goes on behind the scenes in putting on such an event. For those of you that stood with us these years, that offered wise counsel or a paw to unload a truck or cook a meal, our hats off to you and all you have done to make this such an awesome experience for not just us, but for our whole community. I think you could easily agree that one way or another, Oklacon has helped make and strengthen our Oklahoma furry community into something very unique strong that most other states don't have anything like.
But, as they say, all good things, sadly, must.. evolve!
For the past five years, there has been a change in management at our venue, Roman Nose. We have worked hard to abstract away the different people, personalities, and policies this change in the state park staff there had on our group, but some of you have felt a chill indifference from the park managers and rangers in the past few years. While park rangers and staff are not allowed to be very choosy, by law, about what groups reserve spaces in the park and host events there, they have made it very clear they personally object to our group at many levels -- they don't appreciate the core of our being - our fandom - or the artwork, fursuits, or other elements that make us unique and special. They've made several overtures against our group for those in attendance in same-sex relationships, and we've been asked, at times, to try to ask attendees of the same sex not to hold hands. In certain instances, rangers have hassled our attendees simply because of their look, and suggested perhaps they were substance abusers, simply because they didn't look the part for what the newer management wanted their park to cater to - families with children.
Managing these absurdities from our facility contacts comes with the territory of working with a larger event, particularly in a public facility that cannot outright deny you. Before now, we've chosen not to speak about them as the ignorance of a few was, if disappointing to witness, manageable to ensure we could still produce an awesome experience for our fandom in a beautiful venue. Any fur who runs a convention as a liaison with a large contract hotel could tell you these relationships are part business and part a balancing act that works as long as there is not substantial risk for whatever agreement or contract is in place with the venue.
Unfortunately, our balancing act was thrown asunder during Oklacon 2014, when three first-time attendees showed up a night before opening ceremonies, intoxicated themselves, and engaged in public sexual intercourse in the middle of group camp in night. This unprecedented display of poor taste crosses a line on many levels - sex is not what our fandom is about. Substance abuse is not what our fandom is about. Irresponsible behavior that puts others at risk for disease or unplanned pregnancies is not what our fandom is about. By registering for Oklacon and engaging in this behavior in a public state park, in a space reserved in the name of the convention, these individuals represented our fandom in these ways, in full view of the general public. It also crossed the line from 'obscene' to 'illegal'.
In the State of Oklahoma, women cannot legally consent to sex if they are intoxicated, even if they consent before or afterwards. Park management, appropriately, reported this incident to the Blaine County District Attorney as required by Oklahoma law. Various Oklacon volunteers who witnessed this event also provided written statements of the incident to fully disclose what occurred and to document Oklacon's appropriate handling of the issue - upon discovering this incident we stopped it, we immediately reported it to the rangers as we are legally required to do, we in good faith disclosed all the facts (including the registration details of the three involved and the minor forms for any registered minors at the time of the event), and we ejected the three individuals in question from Oklacon, sending them back home early to their respective states.
Some months later, the park rangers realized they did not document the event properly, and reached back out to Oklacon for additional follow-up to the statements we provided. The Blaine County District Attorney, in his official capacity, requested through the rangers a full attendance list for Oklacon 2014 so that he may potentially contact each Oklacon attendee to find out if they could corroborate the written affidavits they already had. Oklacon did not feel this was right or required by law - while we had been forthcoming about the incident, providing written affidaviats and all information we had about those involved, we did not feel it was appropriate for us to turn over the names, addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, car tag numbers, and dealer tax ID numbers of those who had no involvement or knowledge of the incident. While some of you reading this wouldn't mind getting a call from a county prosecutor and asked questions on a tape recorded phone conversation, many of you would not only find this uncomfortable, but a breach of trust by Oklacon in protecting your private information. We at Oklacon declined the request, and indicated it could fully comply, but only if legally compelled to do so by an official subpoena.
No subpoena came, and no details on our attendees other than the three involved in the incident were shared. It has become clear, however, the new management at Roman Nose believes this is the nail they were looking for to decline Oklacon's future booking in the park. In an unprecedented move, Roman Nose returned our deposit check, provided us a two sentence denial letter, and has referred us to their state general counsel (their lawyers) for any questions.
We have followed up with their general counsel, but we have reached an impasse where we would need to seek a legal remedy to resolve the situation. But, let's be realistic. If the park doesn't want us so badly that they would take these steps in attempting to scare us away or procedurally bar us from using the facilities, any technical victory we could accomplish in the short-term to force our way in would make Oklacon untenable in its long-time venue. While we may be the world's largest outdoor furry convention, we're still small in revenue and on a shoe-string budget - fighting the Oklahoma Tourism & Recreation Department in court is not within our financial means. There is clearly a way we can use the laws and policies that require equal rights to access and has an appeal process for all decisions to try to appeal this decision. But, costs aside, do we as a community even want to win entrance to Roman Nose at all costs, even if it meant hassling by staff and rangers the whole weekend? No, our dignity as a fandom is not worth that.
The board and volunteer group that helps plan and execute Oklacon has thought long and hard on this matter and what our next steps might be. We considered many options including fighting for re-entrance to Roman Nose, changing formats, taking a year off to regroup, merging with another event, moving to private land, or simply liquidating all assets as a divestiture for our charity. After three months of incredibly difficult search work (and special thanks to Drazil, Warnndog, and Wildstreak for their tireless efforts in this area), we have found a new home at Sequoyah State Park for Oklacon 2015.
This means two important items have changed: our date and our venue. The date of Oklacon 2015 is changing to one week earlier, the weekend of October 22 - 25, 2015 (one weekend earlier). Our long-time venue, Roman Nose State Park, is changing this year to Sequoyah State Park.
We apologize that this update may surprise you just four months out from our convention date. It was not until this very week we had final confirmation of our reservation of the facilities in order to make this announcement to you. Please know that while we understand this change may cause some hardship on your part as your planned time off work may need to be updated, rest assured we are doing everything we can to ease this transition, including transferring your lodge or cabin reservation to equivalent (and in most cases, upgraded) accommodations at our new venue. Keep your eye on our website and on social media, as there are lots of great updates to make to let you know about the improved facilities at Sequoyah and exciting new opportunities for events with lakeside facilities and a newly-remodeled lodge and 500% larger lodge on-site in addition to CLIMATE CONTROLLED A-FRAMES. :)
We're sure you have many questions, and some important answers ahead of those:
1. Our registration site, procedures, policies, and pricing are unchanged for 2015. You may register at https://oklacon.com as always.
2. No change has been made to our Guests of Honor: we are still excited to welcome Redrusker and Foxfeather to Oklacon as our talented and honored guests.
3. No change has been made to our charity: we are still supporting the important and great work of the WildCare Foundation of Noble, Oklacon for 2015.
4. We did try to keep the same date we previously announced, but were unable to do so at this, or any alternative venue we could find.
5. Tent prices at Sequoyah are slightly higher, up from $8 to $12 per night. As always, these are pass-thru costs to attendees if you choose to set up a tent, but now that climate-controlled A-Frames are available, this may be a more attractive alternative for some tent campers. Tents are still permitted on our new group camp site, so that remains an option for you.
6. Any volunteer comps, contest winnings, etc. that would have given you free or discounted attendance for Oklacon 2015 will, of course, be honored. Oklacon is still Oklacon, no matter where we may be.
7. We understand you may be disappointed, frustrated, or even angry at the way the Roman Nose State Park staff have behaved. We are too. While we do not foresee any outcome that would change our updated plan, if you are an Oklahoma resident, you do have the right to speak up and be heard about the operation of Roman Nose State Park. After all, you are paying for it with your tax dollars. If you wish to receive contact information for those that oversee that park, you may reach out to registration[at]oklacon.com and we will provide you with contact details.
For twelve years, fellow Oklahoma furs have put together a local gathering that grew from a little camping group called Oklacon into a big source of pride for our community - the largest outdoor furry convention in the world, right here in our great state. Since 2003, countless furs have pitched in a hand, met other furs for the first time, and make lifelong friends at our weekend event every October. For those of us fortunate to have gone for one, two, or all twelve years, it's been an experience we cherish for the life-long friendships we've made there, and we've even shared in the joy of hosting a wedding or two along the way.
A lot has changed in twelve years! Many faces have changed both at the con and behind the scenes as furs come and go from the community - though many have stayed the same. Together, we made a mess of the kitchen, sang songs into the wee hours of the morning around the campfire, and joined in probably the best weekend experience of many of our lives in Roman Nose State Park for many years. It's been an awesome journey.
Long journeys have their share of elation and heartbreak, and Oklacon is no exception. Some of you have been personally involved with awesome outcomes or trying times, and if you have, you understand better than most the emotional rollercoaster and hard work that goes on behind the scenes in putting on such an event. For those of you that stood with us these years, that offered wise counsel or a paw to unload a truck or cook a meal, our hats off to you and all you have done to make this such an awesome experience for not just us, but for our whole community. I think you could easily agree that one way or another, Oklacon has helped make and strengthen our Oklahoma furry community into something very unique strong that most other states don't have anything like.
But, as they say, all good things, sadly, must.. evolve!
For the past five years, there has been a change in management at our venue, Roman Nose. We have worked hard to abstract away the different people, personalities, and policies this change in the state park staff there had on our group, but some of you have felt a chill indifference from the park managers and rangers in the past few years. While park rangers and staff are not allowed to be very choosy, by law, about what groups reserve spaces in the park and host events there, they have made it very clear they personally object to our group at many levels -- they don't appreciate the core of our being - our fandom - or the artwork, fursuits, or other elements that make us unique and special. They've made several overtures against our group for those in attendance in same-sex relationships, and we've been asked, at times, to try to ask attendees of the same sex not to hold hands. In certain instances, rangers have hassled our attendees simply because of their look, and suggested perhaps they were substance abusers, simply because they didn't look the part for what the newer management wanted their park to cater to - families with children.
Managing these absurdities from our facility contacts comes with the territory of working with a larger event, particularly in a public facility that cannot outright deny you. Before now, we've chosen not to speak about them as the ignorance of a few was, if disappointing to witness, manageable to ensure we could still produce an awesome experience for our fandom in a beautiful venue. Any fur who runs a convention as a liaison with a large contract hotel could tell you these relationships are part business and part a balancing act that works as long as there is not substantial risk for whatever agreement or contract is in place with the venue.
Unfortunately, our balancing act was thrown asunder during Oklacon 2014, when three first-time attendees showed up a night before opening ceremonies, intoxicated themselves, and engaged in public sexual intercourse in the middle of group camp in night. This unprecedented display of poor taste crosses a line on many levels - sex is not what our fandom is about. Substance abuse is not what our fandom is about. Irresponsible behavior that puts others at risk for disease or unplanned pregnancies is not what our fandom is about. By registering for Oklacon and engaging in this behavior in a public state park, in a space reserved in the name of the convention, these individuals represented our fandom in these ways, in full view of the general public. It also crossed the line from 'obscene' to 'illegal'.
In the State of Oklahoma, women cannot legally consent to sex if they are intoxicated, even if they consent before or afterwards. Park management, appropriately, reported this incident to the Blaine County District Attorney as required by Oklahoma law. Various Oklacon volunteers who witnessed this event also provided written statements of the incident to fully disclose what occurred and to document Oklacon's appropriate handling of the issue - upon discovering this incident we stopped it, we immediately reported it to the rangers as we are legally required to do, we in good faith disclosed all the facts (including the registration details of the three involved and the minor forms for any registered minors at the time of the event), and we ejected the three individuals in question from Oklacon, sending them back home early to their respective states.
Some months later, the park rangers realized they did not document the event properly, and reached back out to Oklacon for additional follow-up to the statements we provided. The Blaine County District Attorney, in his official capacity, requested through the rangers a full attendance list for Oklacon 2014 so that he may potentially contact each Oklacon attendee to find out if they could corroborate the written affidavits they already had. Oklacon did not feel this was right or required by law - while we had been forthcoming about the incident, providing written affidaviats and all information we had about those involved, we did not feel it was appropriate for us to turn over the names, addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, car tag numbers, and dealer tax ID numbers of those who had no involvement or knowledge of the incident. While some of you reading this wouldn't mind getting a call from a county prosecutor and asked questions on a tape recorded phone conversation, many of you would not only find this uncomfortable, but a breach of trust by Oklacon in protecting your private information. We at Oklacon declined the request, and indicated it could fully comply, but only if legally compelled to do so by an official subpoena.
No subpoena came, and no details on our attendees other than the three involved in the incident were shared. It has become clear, however, the new management at Roman Nose believes this is the nail they were looking for to decline Oklacon's future booking in the park. In an unprecedented move, Roman Nose returned our deposit check, provided us a two sentence denial letter, and has referred us to their state general counsel (their lawyers) for any questions.
We have followed up with their general counsel, but we have reached an impasse where we would need to seek a legal remedy to resolve the situation. But, let's be realistic. If the park doesn't want us so badly that they would take these steps in attempting to scare us away or procedurally bar us from using the facilities, any technical victory we could accomplish in the short-term to force our way in would make Oklacon untenable in its long-time venue. While we may be the world's largest outdoor furry convention, we're still small in revenue and on a shoe-string budget - fighting the Oklahoma Tourism & Recreation Department in court is not within our financial means. There is clearly a way we can use the laws and policies that require equal rights to access and has an appeal process for all decisions to try to appeal this decision. But, costs aside, do we as a community even want to win entrance to Roman Nose at all costs, even if it meant hassling by staff and rangers the whole weekend? No, our dignity as a fandom is not worth that.
The board and volunteer group that helps plan and execute Oklacon has thought long and hard on this matter and what our next steps might be. We considered many options including fighting for re-entrance to Roman Nose, changing formats, taking a year off to regroup, merging with another event, moving to private land, or simply liquidating all assets as a divestiture for our charity. After three months of incredibly difficult search work (and special thanks to Drazil, Warnndog, and Wildstreak for their tireless efforts in this area), we have found a new home at Sequoyah State Park for Oklacon 2015.
This means two important items have changed: our date and our venue. The date of Oklacon 2015 is changing to one week earlier, the weekend of October 22 - 25, 2015 (one weekend earlier). Our long-time venue, Roman Nose State Park, is changing this year to Sequoyah State Park.
We apologize that this update may surprise you just four months out from our convention date. It was not until this very week we had final confirmation of our reservation of the facilities in order to make this announcement to you. Please know that while we understand this change may cause some hardship on your part as your planned time off work may need to be updated, rest assured we are doing everything we can to ease this transition, including transferring your lodge or cabin reservation to equivalent (and in most cases, upgraded) accommodations at our new venue. Keep your eye on our website and on social media, as there are lots of great updates to make to let you know about the improved facilities at Sequoyah and exciting new opportunities for events with lakeside facilities and a newly-remodeled lodge and 500% larger lodge on-site in addition to CLIMATE CONTROLLED A-FRAMES. :)
We're sure you have many questions, and some important answers ahead of those:
1. Our registration site, procedures, policies, and pricing are unchanged for 2015. You may register at https://oklacon.com as always.
2. No change has been made to our Guests of Honor: we are still excited to welcome Redrusker and Foxfeather to Oklacon as our talented and honored guests.
3. No change has been made to our charity: we are still supporting the important and great work of the WildCare Foundation of Noble, Oklacon for 2015.
4. We did try to keep the same date we previously announced, but were unable to do so at this, or any alternative venue we could find.
5. Tent prices at Sequoyah are slightly higher, up from $8 to $12 per night. As always, these are pass-thru costs to attendees if you choose to set up a tent, but now that climate-controlled A-Frames are available, this may be a more attractive alternative for some tent campers. Tents are still permitted on our new group camp site, so that remains an option for you.
6. Any volunteer comps, contest winnings, etc. that would have given you free or discounted attendance for Oklacon 2015 will, of course, be honored. Oklacon is still Oklacon, no matter where we may be.
7. We understand you may be disappointed, frustrated, or even angry at the way the Roman Nose State Park staff have behaved. We are too. While we do not foresee any outcome that would change our updated plan, if you are an Oklahoma resident, you do have the right to speak up and be heard about the operation of Roman Nose State Park. After all, you are paying for it with your tax dollars. If you wish to receive contact information for those that oversee that park, you may reach out to registration[at]oklacon.com and we will provide you with contact details.
Hopefully the three attendees who caused the trouble last year have received lifetime bans. When you do something quite that stupid, you're likely to do something equally idiotic again in the future so the less seen of them, the better.
The new park sounds like it has some great upsides compared to Roman Nose. I look forward to seeing it sometime.
I'd always wanted to go to Oklacon. It's actually not far from my home. But I've never been able to schedule it. Congrats on the new location. Just wish I'd made it once.
I've also made some edits to the relevant articles in Wikifur. Please feel free to check them for accuracy and make any corrections.
This was disappointing to us as well, but we're committed to 'make lemonade' out of the situation. We truly are excited about our new park venue and believe it will be a great move that will allow us to grow with many new activities and memories to come.
K Fox
The real loser in this deal is Watonga, and of course it's going to suck having to drive (or in my case, probably score a ride) pretty much to Tulsa to attend Oklacon.
(Most would not know me by My Convention Name or the Furry name i go by on here As on here i am called something different So For those of you that are wondering just who I am, I will let the Wolf out of the bag: Hello My name is "Alpha Darkwolf" Its nice to meet you all. I hope To be at Oklacon again this year but we will see how it all plays out...)
I hope that the change in location is a benefit to attendees, overall. I know that both OKC and Tulsa have international flights.
I will see you all for the pre-con. picnic August 9th @ noon, at Sequoia Park
Quietly of course...
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/7054050/
What I would find surprising, or even just a little appalling, is that the park staff would allow some people to ruin it for everyone like that. It truly sounds like they were just looking for a reasonable sounding excuse. I wouldn't want to go to a park or for that matter a state where that was acceptable. You guys can easily just ban the people and call the park security if they tried to come back couldn't you? It should be understandable that their actions are not approved of or representative of your group.
It's about the same thing as having a few strangers come to a church congregation having an event in the park and doing stuff like that. Do they want to deny the church afterwards even though while those strangers may be Christian and considered welcome at first their behavior was in no way endorsed by them? Of course not, that's absurd. :p
Really hope the event planners searched for private property / neighboring states / whatever that would allow the event to continue before shutting everything down, if there legit was NO where else to hold it then yeah, them's the breaks. If you get a bunch of animal people together and give them liquor, etc.. there is a chance they may do animal things. Really is not a surprise or (personally, I feel) that much of a problem.
As for finding another venue, they'd be limited to probably a few hotels and frankly with only one month's notice I can't see finding that kind of venue to be at all feasible financially, logistically, or otherwise. Moving it out of state would also probably defeat the purpose.
I agree, it would be a stretch to find a venue that quick, save the event for the year but shutting it down permanently and dissolving the LLC is seems a little drastic.
I've no dog in this fight and have no plans of ever stepping foot in OK, but it's always sad to hear a big event is no more.
If this was a hotel con, as I said, things would be different. Hotels usually don't care as much about alcohol consumption as long as it's kept in private rooms. There was, at one point during Oklacon's lifetime, a task force made to see about making a hotel con as well, but Texas Furry Fiesta started up and the demand for a hotel con in the tri-state area was quickly met.
Dissolving the LLC may have been a hardcore move, but the reputation was demolished beyond repair. Think about it, every attempt to make another con would result in another asshat phone call to the venue akin to "You're seriously letting this business rent rooms? They're banned from state parks!!!"
Barring an LLC from renting 100+ hotel rooms because a select few attendees committed sexual felonies and their administration, through so-called "obstruction of justice" (I still don't see how refusal to violate the privacy of 200+ uninvolved people counts as obstructing justice, but I'm not an overzealous D.A.) got them barred from state parks, unfortunately, does not fall under such laws. Is it paranoid to do so? Yes. But again, liability. The hotel management wouldn't want to risk a scandal.
As much as I would love to be able to fight this (and strangulate the rat-bastard that "tattled"), this is a "You can't fight City Hall" situation. The ultimate losers in this are the charities and the local economy of Watonga, who really got a boost from our con being at RNSP for the last 11 years.
No one tells Yellowstone National Park what to do, except the feds. Similarly, no one tells the Oklahoma Parks and Recreation board what to do except for the state (and by extension, state taxpayers). Roman Nose State Park is not Watonga's property, in fact, the OUTSIDE of Watonga's jurisdiction entirely (it's a good 15-minute drive from Watonga city limits). The reason Watonga profited from us being there is because a lot of furs would patronize their gas stations, liquor stores, motels and restaurants in-town.
The past prejudice by park staff, and the con attendee calling Sequoyah with what sounds like bad intentions, makes it sound like you couldn't get a fair break, no matter how effectively you solved the situation when it happened.
I have been tracking some incidents of prejudice and might do an article about this. Here was another -
http://dogpatch.press/2015/05/26/ne.....ur-b-que-hoax/
Can you clarify anything about the incident with three intoxicated people? Intuition tells me it's likely they were all intoxicated at the same time. So were they all raping each other?
You specifically mention that all three showed up and "intoxicated themselves" (plural), but then it says "women cannot consent" while intoxicated. Let's assume that is mistaken wording, because isn't it "nobody" can consent while intoxicated?
Setting aside legal violation, if the supposed victim was equally involved as implied, and doesn't consider it a personal violation and this just has statutory charges... it shows the insane puritanism behind this. Such a situation should be public lewdness at worst. It's both bigoted to men, and paternalistically sexist to women to treat only one person as incapable of consent. You might as well prosecute someone for raping themselves for masturbating while drunk.
Let me know if you can help clarify this, so a future article doesn't misrepresent you.
Well i hope your happy with yourself because of you Oklacon is no more and A very good and fun get-together has been forever destroyed. . . Sighs. . .well at least i got to go one time :(. well to all the friends i made at Oklacon. it was nice to get to meet you. Tot he Staff At Oklacon: it was fun being able to work with you all at least one time... so long and fair well. *Howls Sorrowfully At The Moon*...
if a few individuals get barred its not the end of the world but if the event gets blocked its a real injustice simply because they cannot accept that incidents happen and should in no way become related simply because people want to see it as related.
They did? I see. Convention gone now children safe.
Damn
Furcon's Be Aware Please. Its not even really his game... the Game of Werewolf has an interesting history see it here yourself if you wish don't just take my word for it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafia.....8party_game%29