Running out of spite - Furgeddaboutit 2026

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Attendees at opening ceremonies for Furgeddaboutit in its second year, whose theme was centered around the 1980s. (Eberra Wolf/Flayrah)

Co-reported with Kamen The Lycanroc

In the last weekend of April, Furgeddaboutit’s second year hosted over a thousand attendees and raised $11,828.31 for charity. For the New Jersey convention, this year’s theme was “Don’t You FURGeddabout Me: All About the 80s!”. From Friday to Sunday, songs from the decade emanated from the ballroom, a few furs dressed in their best 80s fashion, and several took photos with small sets in the hallway, themed on the decade.

Furgeddaboutit was originally established to spite another furry convention, Garden State Fur The Weekend, or GSFTW, for its unscrupulous ties with an infamous furry group that was responsible for ending Rocky Mountain Fur Con in 2017. In turn Furgeddaboutit drew prospective attendees away from it by overlapping on the same days. GSFTW suffered a large blow from what became a drain of defectors, and as of writing is seemingly defunct. There has been no official talk of a 2026 convention for Garden State beside what appears to be in the last public communication, on Twitter in mid-June of last year, fielding suggestions on a theme. GSFTW did not respond to a request for comment.

The second year begins

By Thursday afternoon, the day before the official start of Furgeddaboutit, almost as many people had pre-registered for it as had attended the year prior. When the convention wrapped, late Sunday afternoon, the number of people who checked in grew to 1,101, the convention announced; up 57% compared to the prior year.

As staffers were setting up equipment and props Thursday night, some furs went down the road to a restaurant called Tavern 292 for drinks and dinner. Slowly trickling in, a few dozen furs went to this pre-con kickoff hosted by a staffer at Furgeddaboutit and Furrydelphia. The reserved back room eventually filled up; furries who came late were seated in the main dining room.

Since the first iteration, Furgeddaboutit has become a proper legal entity independent of Furrydelphia, which had been the financial and legal backer hosting 2025’s edition. A board was elected last summer, and the convention became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. There were about 70 staff members who helped run 2026.

Though no longer managed by Furrydelphia, there is significant overlap in personnel between the two events. Two people are on the board of directors of both organizations: Osiris Adustus and Fraye. In addition, there is an unusually large overlap in people who staff both conventions, an unsurprising outcome of the conventions being in close geographical proximity. It’s a very lean, penny-pinching enterprise with lots of equipment being borrowed, loaned, or thrifted. Some equipment had been borrowed from Furrydelphia, though Furgeddaboutit has since purchased some of their own so as to wean out of the reliance on their parent convention.

A convention president like nun other

Osiris Adustrus, a therian and the president and convention chair of Furgeddaboutit, has staffed several other furry conventions. (Eberra Wolf/Flayrah)

Osiris, a therian, geologist and founder of the club Anthro Outdoors Adventures, was made the president of Furgeddaboutit last summer, after being chair. His position is in addition to being on the board of directors of Furrydelphia and running Anthro Outdoors Adventures, his nonprofit outdoor adventure club. He has also staffed atAnthro New England, New Years Furry Ball, Midwest FurFest, Anthrocon, and more.

He sometimes dresses up as a nun to play ‘Mother Inferior,’ a vulgar character perverting the politeness seen in nuns. He frequently smokes cigarettes, and the odor is occasionally carried on him around the convention. “I know smoking is a nasty habit. But I’m an old man,” the thirty-one-year-old said of it. With moments of colorfully vulgar language, Osiris can be crass, even outside of the nun costume.

The convention chair insists his roles in being board members and staffing other conventions isn’t to boost his profile, but rather to organize events for the furry community and be beholden to it. In a brief conversation with him and one of the reporters of this piece, on Thursday, he proclaimed that anyone from the convention chair of Anthro New England to a lay attendee could call or message him, and he would answer. Not more than a minute later, amusingly, he declined an incoming call.

The Big(-ish) One Conflict

Though occurring on a different weekend than last year’s gathering, Furgeddaboutit again conflicted with The Bigger One, a large, two-day self-described furmeet hosted by PS Furmeets. The event, which was called The Big One last year, took place in Somerset, N.J., about an hour away from Furgeddaboutit. PS Furmeets is organized by a woman named Pawsouls. Both events took place the first weekend in May of last year to intentionally siphon people away from GSFTW, but for them to clash without GSFTW this year was a strange outcome.

Osiris strongly denied that this was intentional, saying the chosen venue on that weekend had been the cheapest offer they had received. We have reviewed communication the convention shared with us between it and the hotels that affirms this characterization. We also reviewed a communication between Furgeddaboutit and PS Furmeets coordinating to try to avoid an overlap, initiated by Furgeddaboutit last summer, that did not move further than a brief exploratory discussion.

On the convention’s FAQ page, it emphasizes that “we are not in competition with any groups or events inside or outside of [New Jersey]” and that it “encourages those interested to go to at least one, if not both, events”. Osiris stated that he was telling “everybody in the community ‘till I was blue in the face, ‘Hey, come support both events. If you feel like supporting Pawsouls’ event, be my guest. Please do.’”

“Even when Furg[eddaboutit] was first being formed [last year],” Osiris recalled, “we reached out to her and said, ‘Hey, we’re doing this thing. We see that you’re thinking about— kind of alluding that you might want to do something similar. Why don’t you come and do this event with us?’” Osiris added that he offered to make Pawsouls a founding member.

Though Osiris maintains he and the wider Furgeddaboutit staff want The Bigger One to succeed, he admitted to having tension with Pawsouls. Osiris criticizes The Bigger One for not being a nonprofit, spanning only two days, and the base registration price costing more than that of Furgeddaboutit. Still, Osiris would rather hash out any differences between the two organizations than beef with them.

Yet those opinions aside, less than a week before the event, a staffer for Furgeddaboutit was removed from their position and banned from the convention for allegedly using sockpuppets in group chats for The Bigger One to cause trouble. It is unclear what specific actions this fur took, but complaints were deemed credible enough to Osiris to warrant disciplinary action. “That’s not the purpose or virtue of this event,” Osiris said, referring to what the ex-staffer's trolling behaviors.

PS Furmeets did not respond to a request for comment.

Jim Hansen of Cedar Run shows one of the permanent animals at their facilities. The nonprofit may be cycled out for another one next year. (Eberra Wolf/Flayrah)

The charity returns

Cedar Run returned to be the convention’s charity, but may be cycled out next year. The wildlife rescue and rehabilitation center again brought some of its permanent animals in a well-attended panel, with Jim Hansen reprising his role as host for the organization. With several fundraising events throughout the weekend—including a “maid cafe” and a highly-acclaimed absurdist comedy show—combined with memberships-as-donations, Cedar Run Wildlife Refuge took home a total of $11,828.31, according to the convention.

At the charity auction, the list of things to sell were endless, some highlights being: Several car parts (see Guest of Honor section as to why), kandi bracelets that were “donated by a gaggle of children”, Osiris’ urn and future ashes sold for $400 after a bidding war, cuddles with a fursuit based on the character Loona from Helluva Boss, and Osiris in his Mother Inferior costume had a pie thrown on his face by the highest bidder for the throw. The auction went far over its allotted time.

Wearing his Mother Inferior costume, Osiris Adustus, the convention chair, auctions off a Wawa hoagie to raise money for Cedar Run. (Eberra Wolf/Flayrah)

Guests of Honor

Roxi Wheels - old car mechanic, New Jersey native, and Guest of Honor. (Eberra Wolf/Flayrah)

The guests of honor this year were Glitzy Fox Studios and Friends— a fursuit and art collective, and Roxi Wheels— a some-time mechanic. Glitzy Fox and Friends (who are transitioning from their prior name of Glitzy Fox Studios) is run by the eponymous fur and is based in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Roxi is a New Jersey native know in the furry car enthusiast community who is moving to the Poconos, in Pennsylvania.

“I just generally like screwing around with cars,” Roxi said in an interview. The technician gained an interest in them learning to maintain her 1984 Trans Am on her own. Ever since, she’s been consumed by not only cars, but 80s fashion, which she wore that weekend for the theme. After attending the first Furgeddaboutit last year, Osiris offered Roxi placement as a Guest of Honor, in which she “begrudgingly” accepted after being Guest of Honor at New Year’s Furry Ball, whose theme was “80s Mall Shopping Spree”.

Roxi’s favorite part of the convention has been the car show. She assisted in hosting it, and stated that she enjoyed the “quirky” part of furry car culture. Roxi noted how there’s a lot of love for uncommon and “unloved cars”. At the car show, she made up awards to give out, with Best In Show being given to a Porsche 928, a “very 80s car.”

The car enthusiast also hosted a Saturday night panel about Cannonball racing, a race that stretches from New York City to Redondo Beach, California. Roxi also considered her role as Guest of Honor to be her “last big hurrah” for New Jersey as her move was scheduled to be right after the end of the convention. Roxi enjoyed being able to not only be Guest of Honor at Furgeddaboutit, but also being able to enjoy the furry car scene.

Coming from further afar was Glitzy Fox and some of the artists she works with. Glitzy—also a former mechanic—came to Furgeddaboutit after having a good experience at Furrydelphia 2025. She describes the convention as “quirky”, with one longtime artist, Mönty, adding that it reminded him of cons from years ago. Unlike other conventions, Glitzy felt special here, having the chance to interact with people who were influenced by her art.

Glitzy Fox and Friends is a fursuit and furry merchandise company. At Furgeddaboutit, they did some market testing before heading to larger conventions. (Eberra Wolf/Flayrah)

The company’s booth in the dealer’s den not only features her fursuits, which she creates with a team, but other artists that sell through the new rebrand: Glitzy Fox and Friends, stating she had regrets naming the company originally after herself. The company rebranded to not only highlight other artists she has collaborated with to sell merchandise at cons, Glitzy said in an interview, but also to uplift artists who may struggle selling at conventions.

“It’s very competitive to get into conventions, and some people don’t get their foot in the door,” explained Glitzy. “So I had the idea: What if I worked with other artists to make merchandise and we do it as a team?” Glitzy organizes contracts and relationships with the artists to ensure their cut while also getting a chance to sell their merchandise at conventions.

She also used her business to help highlight fem-aligned furry artists in the fandom who struggle to gain a foothold. Glitzy recalled that girls and non-binary furries have come up to her saying they felt invisible in the fandom. She hopes her presence can help women and non-binary aligned furries be able to share their art without feeling ignored.

Glitzy Fox Studios, the part of the company making fursuits, has a “core” group of artists for fursuit designs, with one of them being Mönty. Sometime after meeting each other, she recruited Mönty to help in making fursuits. Since then he’s been working tables with Glitzy at conventions, with his first convention being Midwest Furfest 2022.

Glitzy noted that Furgeddaboutit was also testing merchandise and the rebrand as she gets ready for other conventions such as Furry Weekend Atlanta and Anthrocon. “Furg[eddaboutit] has been a good learning experience” when referring to not only the rebrand, but also to analyze what merchandise and art sold throughout the weekend.

Though known for her fursuits, Glitzy runs “Make a tail with Glitzy” panels at some conventions, in which she demonstrates how she makes fursuit tails. This year, however, her panels for Furgeddaboutit were “How not to run a furry business” and “Fursuit making 101: materials and you.”

The fursuit maker Glitzy Fox was a Guest of Honor this year, and hosted a panel about making a business in the fandom. (Eberra Wolf/Flayrah)

Her furry business panel, hosted with a business partner, broached several topics on building a brand, charging the right amount, and a few stories about mistakes involving other furries. One topic she stressed was to pay yourself fairly, and to charge customers a rate that is sustainable. A good rule of thumb, she offered, was the sum of three times the material cost and your price of labor.

In a story told at the panel, she mentioned an incident where a customer who had commissioned a fursuit had later been alleged to have committed a crime. The fursuit had been mostly complete, but she decided to distance herself by canceling the order, issuing a refund, and destroying the fursuit, in what was implied to have been a big expense to her company. Of course, she did not specify the buyer, or what illegal activity they were said to have done.

The Mt. Laurel DoubleTree, where the first Furgeddaboutit was held. Osiris said “the management didn’t like us.” (Eberra Wolf/Flayrah)

The woes of securing a venue

Moving from east of Philadelphia, where the convention was held last year, to the top of New Jersey, Furgeddaboutit transferred from one DoubleTree to another. Despite more attendees and some staying at other hotels, the hotel still harbored a few guests not of the convention. Last year, the Mt. Laurel DoubleTree had hosted weddings alongside the furries, which was a frustration to some attendees and wedding goers.

“We rather liked the property,” Osiris said of the Mt. Laurel hotel from last year. “But the problem was we didn’t like the management. And the management didn’t like us.”

Furgeddaboutit had inquired about returning to the DoubleTree in Mt. Laurel, but was ghosted for three months, Osiris said, only to then ask for around $40,000. He did not specify whether that figure included the service charge and taxes, which amount to larger sums, but the cost was unreasonable to the convention.

A search for a new hotel commenced, including a hotel close to a beach and a Taj Mahal-themed hotel. Venues gave figures outside their budget. The location and weekend that was selected was the only one they felt was affordable. “We spent four months going from hotel to hotel getting various quotes [on] how much it would cost to run the event,” Osiris said in an interview. “This property was the only property that gave us a value for the whole event that was below thirty thousand. [For a deposit] we wound up putting ten thousand down on the property.” Any other date, or any other venue was infeasible. “We just couldn’t swing it,” Osiris said, “we didn’t have the capital.”

“In order for us to actually get an event property, where we could have the entire space during peak wedding season, this was this date,” Osiris said. “The only other date available [at this venue and at a comparable price] was Easter weekend, and who the hell is gonna go to a con on Easter weekend when [many people] have family to go see?” (Though it should be noted, Las Vegas Fur Con and Bewhiskered both were held on Easter weekend this year.)

Preliminary discussions shared with us by the convention corroborate this characterization. The convention intends to obtain the same dates at the same hotel next year, even though it has additional capital to be flexible, like if The Bigger One returns and chooses the same dates again.

The lobby of the Fairfield DoubleTree. That hotel during that weekend was the cheapest option, the convention chair said. (Eberra Wolf/Flayrah)

At the Fairfield DoubleTree rooms and event spaces were well-kept, especially the lobby, bar, and restaurant. The indoor pool was closed for unspecified reasons, but opened on Saturday after, presumably, complaints. (Though the humidity from it caused worrying damage to the room.) A floor plan given to the vending team was misleading, but there were fewer vendors this year than last. It “could have been easier” to work with the new hotel, Osiris said.

Further frustrations befell the convention leadership. The township of Fairfield slow-walked the permitting process, according to Osiris. The application and fee in order to host the event was submitted last November, and once the township cashed the check, he continued, it never responded to their request for the permit. Only on Thursday did the permit arrive, maddening the chair. Osiris added that some vendors, who needed vending licenses 15 days in advance, had better luck communicating with the township’s Instagram account than through emails. The license was visible from Saturday, “posted in public view” as it demands.

The “Furlin Wall”, before it was torn down by ‘Furbachev’, straddling the badge check booth which welcomed attendees to the convention space. (Eberra Wolf/Flayrah)

‘Furlin Wall’, torn down by ‘Furbachev’

Sixteen people helped work on sets matching the 80s theme, according to Osiris. “My buddy Sasquatch is the head of the build team,” he said. “I just tell him, Hey this is what we’re building, this is the design.” The costs are tabulated, given to the board for negotiations and approval, and built in their storage unit once approved, the convention chair explained. He is still heavily involved with building them however, during an interview with him on Thursday afternoon, another staff member came to ask for him to assist in assembling the sets. In his panel about Furgeddaboutit, he mentioned that he drove down to their storage unit every Saturday and worked on them from morning to night for the past few months.

At the entrance to the restricted convention space was a “FURLIN WALL,” asking for “BADGES PLEASE”. It originally said “PAPERS PLEASE”, a reference to the 2013 video game, but was taped over and reworded, due to the current state of the country perhaps making it too raw a topic. On Friday morning, cardboard boxes painted to emulate concrete were stacked alongside it to evoke the Berlin Wall. At 8 AM, Osiris strutted out and called on “Furbachev” to “tear down this wall,” to which a Russian fur, with a thick accent and dressed like an Eastern European border guard, promptly smashed his way through the assembled boxes à la Kool-Aid Man.

There was a large cardboard cassette tape with “FURG MIX 26” painted on it, though sadly no boombox to put it in. The staff built a small rudimentary sports car from the 80s. There was a phone booth with a landline receiver inside for a photo op, a reference to the 1989 film Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure.

Last year, a wooden billboard was constructed and painted to look like a fire risk sign, connecting to the ‘phoenix rising from the ashes’ fire theme that year. It hasn’t returned or been repurposed. The recreation of a bubblestand from Spongebob Squarepants did return, though that is to be rebuilt after the original sign was auctioned off.

As the final day of the first Furgeddaboutit wore on last year, attendees made their exits. And by the evening, it was deserted. Walking around the hotel meeting space, alone, felt like wandering into a ghost town. Compared to what had filled it just a day prior, the change felt abrupt. Chairs had been mostly stacked, but not put away. Tables and stools were left in disarray. Temporary water stations were still up and trash cans were overflowing.

This year, while still true for any other convention having attendees file out on Sunday, it felt livelier. Far more people were at the charity auction and closing ceremonies. Leaving in the late afternoon, and returning to the 2020s, one felt as though there was still more to do, more fun to be had. But that will wait until next year, which the convention said during closing ceremonies would be a Godfather-inspired theme, “Cosa Nostra; This Furry Thing of Ours,” next April.

Additional reporting by Kamen The Lycanroc