Eurofurence

This page is about the convention. For the typeface family, see eurofurence (font).

Eurofurence
Location	Germany and other European Union countries
Website	https://www.eurofurence.org
Status	Ongoing
First iteration	1995-06-30 to 1995-07-03
Organizer(s)	Eurofurence e.V.
Subject	Furry
Resources	Photos, videos, reports: Eurofurence resources

Eurofurence (edit)

Eurofurence 1 (1995)

Eurofurence 2 (1996)

Eurofurence 3 (1997)

Eurofurence 4 (1998)

Eurofurence 5 (1999)

Eurofurence 6 (2000)

Eurofurence 7 (2001)

Eurofurence 8 (2002)

Eurofurence 9 (2003)

Eurofurence 10 (2004)

Eurofurence 11 (2005)

Eurofurence 12 (2006)

Eurofurence 13 (2007)

Eurofurence 14 (2008)

Eurofurence 15 (2009)

Eurofurence 16 (2010)

Eurofurence 17 (2011)

Eurofurence 18 (2012)

Eurofurence 19 (2013)

Eurofurence 20 (2014)

Eurofurence 21 (2015)

Eurofurence 22 (2016)

Eurofurence 23 (2017)

Eurofurence 24 (2018)

Eurofurence 25 (2019)

EFO (2020)

EFO #2 (2021)

Eurofurence 26 (2022)

Eurofurence 27 (2023)

Eurofurence staff

Eurofurence guests of honor

Eurofurence (commonly abbreviated as EF) is one of the largest furry conventions outside the United States and currently ranks as the 7th largest globally. Established in 1995, it holds the distinction of being the longest-running furry convention.

Traditionally hosted in summer, Eurofurence takes place mid-September at the Congress Center Hamburg (CCH). Previous editions have been held in various locations across Germany and occasionally in other countries such as Sweden, the Netherlands, and the Czech Republic. Noteworthy venues include the Ringberg Hotel in Suhl (Thuringia), the Maritim Hotel in Magdeburg (Saxony-Anhalt), and the Estrel Hotel in Berlin, which is Germany's largest hotel.

For a long time it was the largest furry convention in Europe, being superseded by NordicFuzzCon in February 2024 (compared to EF in September 2023), though then regaining its former spot that same year with over 5000 attendees, following the world-wide trend of massive increases in furcon attendance.

Programming

Since EF12, Eurofurence has run for five days from Wednesday to Sunday, with the exception of EF27, which started on a Sunday. Early arrival and late departure options have been offered in the past, but since changing the location to the CCH Hamburg, this option is not available from the convention itself anymore. Nevertheless, attendees can extend their stays in Hamburg for another night or two on their own behalf. Since 2019, the Summerboat tour has been offered to attendees on the day before the official start of the convention.

There are several main events held each year, often on the same day of the week and at the same time. Popular events on the Theater Stage include the Opening Ceremony, Closing Ceremony, Uncle Kage's Story Hour, the Furry Tails Theatre, the Charity Concert by Fox Amoore or Foxes and Peppers (depending on Pepper Coyote's availability), and the Pawpet Show. The Pawpet Show is a furry hand and rod puppet performance produced and performed by a mixed crew of Eurofurence staff and attendees. It is written as a feature-length stage show, mixing comedy and drama, with music, added sound effects, special effects, and more recently, also prerecorded video footage inserted between the scenes.

On the Dance Stage, besides a nightly dance with varying DJs, Paws on Fire, which is a fursuit dance battle style contest also known as Floor Wars at other furry conventions, several fursuit game shows, and the Big Blue Dance are held. The Big Blue Dance follows the Pawpet Show and is the last event of the convention, conducted by BigBlueFox and other DJs, and often continues throughout the night. A big effort is put into light and sound buildup and effects, live mixed background animations, and other atmospheric effects by the Stage crew.

Until the relocation to Hamburg, on the day following the Closing Ceremony of the convention, a Dead Dog Party was held for those who wanted to relax and wind down while preventing post-con depression.

A Group Photo of all those attending, as well as a Fursuit Group Photo, is taken during the official convention days. In ancient times, the group photos have been taken on Sunday morning, but they were moved to an earlier weekday, as it was not an ideal time for many attendees who were not able to get out of bed early after the Big Blue Dance the previous night or did want to depart early in the morning.

Art and merchandise

The Dealers' Den is available from the second to fourth day of the convention as a curated space for attendees to sell merchandise of varying sorts. Dealers must have mandatory prior registration for Eurofurence (the event) and additional registration for the Dealers’ Den. Currently, there is also an "After Dark" (AD) Dealers' Den section available.

The Art Show is a curated art exhibition where attendees can browse artwork and place bids on pieces they would like to buy. Until EF26 (2022), the Art Auction, which was conducted by Uncle Kage, was held after the closing of the Art Show to sell some of the pieces with higher demand to the highest bidders in a live show. After moving to Hamburg in 2023, the Art Auction was omitted due to time constraints.

Fursuiting

There are several events and facilities available for fursuiters. A large Fursuit Lounge is available exclusively for fursuiters to relax and cool down in a non-public environment. The lounge provides fans and other cooling equipment, as well as facilities to dry fursuits. Throughout the convention, there is also an official fursuit photoshoot, where fursuiters can have professional pictures taken of their suits.

The Fursuit Parade, open to both fursuiters and non-fursuiters, is a highlight of the convention. With fursuit attendance steadily rising to over 40% of overall attendees in recent years, the parade is now held entirely outdoors. In the final years of the convention in Berlin, the Fursuit Parade was not held due to space constraints around the Estrel hotel.

EF Prime

EF Prime Logo, 2008

EF Prime is a TV channel that broadcasts information and entertainment during Eurofurence on several internal streams. It was launched in 2007 during EF13 and provides information about EF-related events and facilities. In addition, it airs furry-related shorts and shows, as well as popular clips popular among the fandom. A live Twitter/X feed is displayed throughout the broadcast, featuring tweets directed at @EF_prime, programming changes, and announcements.

During EF17, EF Prime introduced its own mascot, a computer-generated wolf named Spikey Wolf. Spikey was introduced in a video parody of Eminem's "My Name Is" and is voiced by Shay. Spikey highlights the daily timetable on EF Prime and provides numerous quotes during live events. BigBlueFox (program schedule, content management, on-air design) and Athesis (playout and Twitter software) are responsible for EF Prime.

Daily Eurofurence

The Daily Eurofurence is a newspaper published during Eurofurence, reporting on all kinds of events from the prior day. The newspaper consists of various articles, some cartoons, an occasional crossword puzzle, and the updated timetable for the convention.

History

Eurofurence has been held in the following places over the years:

Year	Date	Attn.	Location
1 (1995)	30 Jun-3 Jul	19	Kaiser-Wilhelm-Koog, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
2 (1996)	18-22 Jul	35	Linköping, Östergötland, Sweden
3 (1997)	21-24 Aug	59	Boostedt, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany
4 (1998)	1-5 Aug	80	Heeze, Noord-Brabant, the Netherlands
5 (1999)	22-25 Jul	117	Berlin, Germany
6 (2000)	10-13 Aug	149	Göttingen, Niedersachsen, Germany
7 (2001)	22-25 Jul	230	Kirchen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany
8 (2002)	15-18 Aug	260	Oberbernhards, Hessen, Germany
9 (2003)	21-24 Aug	165	Samopše, Středočeský kraj, Czech Republic
X (2004)	26-29 Aug	295	Olpe, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
11 (2005)	21-24 Jul	380	Nürnberg, Bayern, Germany
12 (2006)	23-27 Aug	405	Nürnberg, Bayern, Germany
13 (2007)	5-9 Sep	585	Suhl, Thüringen, Germany
14 (2008)	27-31 Aug	777	Suhl, Thüringen, Germany
15 (2009)	26-30 Aug	911	Suhl, Thüringen, Germany
16 (2010)	1-5 Sep	973	Magdeburg, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany
17 (2011)	17-21 Aug	1066	Magdeburg, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany
18 (2012)	28 Aug-2 Sep	1232	Magdeburg, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany
19 (2013)	21-25 Aug	1376	Magdeburg, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany
20 (2014)	20-24 Aug	2015	Berlin, Germany
21 (2015)	19-23 Aug	2095	Berlin, Germany
22 (2016)	17-21 Aug	2573	Berlin, Germany
23 (2017)	16-20 Aug	2804	Berlin, Germany
24 (2018)	22-26 Aug	2911	Berlin, Germany
25 (2019)	14-18 Aug	3412	Berlin, Germany
26 (2022)	24-28 Aug	3495	Berlin, Germany
27 (2023)	3-7 Sep	3408	Hamburg, Germany
28 (2024)	18–21 Sep	5241	Hamburg, Germany
29 (2025)	TBD		Hamburg, Germany

Themes

Eurofurence 8 was the first Eurofurence convention to have a specific theme. The theme is represented in the art and signs displayed in public and in some events such as the Pawpet Show. There ocasionally also are events specific to the theme, such as at Eurofurence 17 which had a Tai Chi panel and a martial arts performance to complement its Chinese theme.

• 8 (2002): "Furry Intelligence Agency"
• 9 (2003): "Cunning Little Vixens"
• X (2004): "EFX: The Movie" - at the movies
• 11 (2005): "Songs of the Old Ages" - the middle ages
• 12 (2006): "The Hounds of Blackwhite Castle" - detective stories
• 13 (2007): "The Unlucky Thirteen" - casino
• 14 (2008): "Horrorfurence: From Dusk till Dawn" - horror stories
• 15 (2009): "1001 Arabian Nights" - the Middle East
• 16 (2010): "Serengeti" - Africa
• 17 (2011): "Kung Fur Hustle" - China
• 18 (2012): "Animalia Romana" - the Roman Empire
• 19 (2013): "Aloha Hawaii"
• 20 (2014): "CSI Berlin"
• 21 (2015): "Greenhouse World"
• 22 (2016): "Back to the 80s"
• 23 (2017): "Ancient Egypt"
• 24 (2018): "Aviators - Conquer the Sky!"
• 25 (2019): "Fractures in Time"
• 26 (2022): "Welcome to Tortuga - On the High Seas"
• 27 (2023): "Black Magic"
• 28 (2024): "Cyberpunk"

Guests of Honor

Eurofurence has a guest of honour almost every year since Eurofurence 5 in 1999 (except for Eurofurence 6 and 9). The following list provides an overview of guests so far:

• 5 (1999): Lisanne Norman, author of the Sholan Alliance series of books
• 7 (2001): Lisanne Norman; Lee "Chairo" Strom, fursuiter, puppeteer, and member of the Further Confusion organising team since 1998; Mark Merlino, co-founder of ConFurence, the original furry convention
• 8 (2002): Dr. Samuel "Uncle Kage" Conway, Chairman of Anthrocon, the world’s largest furry convention
• X (2004): Timothy Albee, creator of Kaze: Ghost Warrior
• 11 (2005): Heather Alexander, Celtic Folk/World Rock Musician
• 12 (2006): Dark Natasha, furry artist
• 13 (2007): Lance Ikegawa, costume designer; Steve Gallacci was scheduled to appear, but a last minute emergency forced him to cancel.
• 14 (2008): Watts Martin, science fiction writer in the early days of the furry fandom, and Steve Gallacci, creator and publisher of Albedo Anthropomorphics
• 15 (2009): Jimmy Chin, furry artist and fursuiter
• 16 (2010): Stan Sakai, comic author, creator of Usagi Yojimbo
• 17 (2011): Jim Martin, puppeteer for Sesame Street
• 18 (2012): Peter S. Beagle, fantasy author
• 19 (2013): Warrick Brownlow-Pike, Andy Heath and Iestyn Evans, puppeteers from ‘The Mongrels’ the hit BBC comedy
• 20 (2014): author Kyell Gold, artist Ursula Vernon, fursuit acrobatic performer Sardyuon, and the crew from Sofawolf Press.
• 21 (2015): musicians Rhubarb the Bear and Cosmik
• 22 (2016): Dorothy Hearst, author of The Wolf Chronicles
• 23 (2017): Pepper Coyote and Clockwork Creature
• 24 (2018): Joaquin Baldwin, animator and director
• 25 (2019): Alector Fencer
• 26 (2022): Fox Amoore and JoJoe
• 27 (2023): Pechschwinge
• 28 (2024): Iris Schleuss, German puppeteer

Charity

Since 2007, Eurofurence has a dedicated charity for each convention, often animal sanctuaries or other animal welfare organisations. Donations are collected during the convention, and there are often one or more paid events, the profits of which go to the charity.

• 13 (2007): Waldzoo Offenbach, raised €1814
• 14 (2008): National Fox Welfare Society, raised €3509.69
• 15 (2009): Tierpark Suhl, raised €2938.53
• 16 (2010): Gnadenhof Emmrich, raised €5771.15
• 17 (2011): Raubkatzenasyl, raised €8720.55
• 18 (2012): Far from Fear e.V., raised €13,253
• 19 (2013): Wildtierhilfe Fiel e.V., raised €19,307
• 20 (2014): Stiftung Fledermaus, raised €21,081
• 21 (2015): Wildtierhilfe Fiel e.V., raised €32,000
• 22 (2016): Painted Dog Conservation, raised 43,045€
• 23 (2017): Sieben Katzleben, raised €40,089
• 24 (2018): Lemurs of Madagascar, raised €41,000
• 25 (2019): Foundation Lutreola, raised €42,105.37
• 26 (2022): Cheetah Preservation Foundation, raised €33,250.50
• 27 (2023): UAnimals, raised €40,004.88
• 28 (2024): Wildtierschutz Deutschland e.V., raised €46,461.00

Organization

Eurofurence 1 was first organized in 1995 by Tes-Tui-H'ar and unci, neither of whom are involved with running the convention as of today. In 1997, Sven "Cheetah" Tegethoff, took over as convention chairman of Eurofurence 3 and has chaired nearly every Eurofurence since then. Eurofurence 4 was organized and financed by Samarindus, who found a location for the 1998 convention in the Netherlands with the help of Naros.

In 1998, Eurofurence e.V. was registered as a social organization in Germany to operate the convention annually from Eurofurence 5 in 1999 to the present day. However, it is not limited to any specific location, and has many international members among its staff and members. Since 2009, Eurofurence e.V. has their own flags, banners and posters with the logo.

Current staff

For Eurofurence 28 (2024), the Directors of convention staff, and their areas of responsibility, are as follows:

• Cheetah — Chairman
• Nightfox — Vice Chairman, Venue Relations
• Loewi — Chief Financial Officer, Registration
• Akulatraxas, TiBoth - Programming
• Dingo, KittehBit, FireDawgAT, Kazookie, Chudlight — Security
• Eric Coon, Den — Convention Operations
• LuckyEsel, Tanor — Logistics
• Cairyn, Blue_Panther — Art Show
• Pattarchus, AlphaKi, Vulniir — Dealers' Den
• Wawik — Convention Store
• Arahn, Mobo — Guest of Honor Relations
• Sniffer, TaniDaReal — Charity Relations
• garra, Haku, Jaryic, Karrn, KingTaibu — Stage
• Lykantrop, Krauti M. — Screen Operations
• BigBlueFox, KwisA — Video Team
• Atkelar, Shorty, NewEinstein — Fursuit Photoshoot
• Jake R, Kalaallit Amaroq — Fursuit Support
• Tsuki, Martini - Fursuit Theater
• Tigerseye — Fursuit Badges
• BlueBerry — Fursuit Entertainment
• Hunter, Cubitus - Summerboat
• BlueBerry, Jorinda - Press & Media Relations
• Treyfane Dingo, 'Yote, o'wolf — Marketing & Public Relations
• Mystifur - Local & Public Affairs
• draconigen, fafnyr — Website
• Vinaru, Snow-wolf — Conbook
• Draugvorn, Angus — Daily Eurofurence
• LuckyEsel, Jason Blake — Decorations
• Zefiro, Fenrikur — IT
• Jumpy - Registration Software Development
• Honigeintopf, Winged Neko — Telecommunications
• Jyanon, 'Yote, Hai - Internal Coordination
• Windmelodie – Awareness Team

Whilst these are the "key" members of staff, there are many more volunteers helping to make the convention a success by doing such tasks as leading events, setting up the stage and art show, tear-down and pretty much anything else that needs to be done.

Quotes and trivia

• "Anthrocon may be the biggest fur convention in the world, but Eurofurence is the best." — Uncle Kage, EFX (2004)
• "EF kicks ass! In Fact there is not enough ass in the entire US for this con to kick!" — Uncle Kage, EF 12 (2006)
• "I am chairman of the largest furry convention in the world, but I personally believe that the best furry convention is right here." — Uncle Kage, EF 13 (2007)
• "I command three of the largest hotels, in one of the largest cities in the USA. I would trade all of them away for one Ringberg." (a.k.a. "Goodbye, Ringberg Hotel") — Uncle Kage, EF 15 (2009)
• "This is our second year in the Maritim hotel. And with 1066 registration we are officially booked out." — Nightfox, EF 17 (2011)
• "...additional notice. We would like to ask you: to NOT fursuit in the pool. The filters clogged up with fur and water overflowed in to other areas. And although the hotel manager though it was very cool. We still have to ask you to not do this." — Nightfox, EF 17 (2011)
• "The past week has been a wild ride for the reg team - during first 6 days, we have received nothing short of 1150 registration requests - which once again marks a new record in EF history." — Cheetah, pre-EF18 (2012)

External links

• Main Eurofurence Site
• Official Eurofurence Forum
• Eurofurence community at LiveJournal (unofficial)
• Eurofurence on Twitter
• Eurofurence iOS app on the iTunes Store
• Photos, videos, reports: Eurofurence resources