Dogpatch Press

Furclubbing:  “A repeat/regular nightclub event by furries for furries.”  It’s a New Thing that’s been spreading since the late 2000’s.

This kind of dance party is independent from cons.  This builds on the growth of cons, and takes things farther.  It’s more established than events that happen once, house parties or informal meets.  Those can be inner-focused, or gather cliquish friends to only seek each other.   This brings partnership with venues that aren’t hotels, and supportive interest in the kind of events they host and promote.  It crosses a line to public space.  A stranger may walk in off the street to discover their new favorite thing.  It encourages new blood and crossover to other scenes.

See the list of parties at The Furclub survey.  Anyone that gives a Q&A will get their own article.  Kelar tells you more…

Fox Trot Club in Denver, CO (2011 – now)  

Art: louvelex

• Fox Trot Club on Twitter.
• Their Facebook page.
• FurAffinity. (See gallery for custom posters.)

Live or dead?:  Very much alive.

Who organizes it:  DaoFox, Dire, Ilris, Kelar.

DJs:  Rotates frequently, TekFox is our most consistent DJ, but we have a lot of guest DJs.

Rave, club, other:  Club.

Style of Music: Primarly dubstep with a mix of other stuff.

How well attended:  I think we consistently hit about 70 participants.

Price: None.

Where: Aqua Lounge, Denver, CO.

Local furry scene?  Do people come from far away?:  Yes sometimes.  It’s open to all furries 21 and up.

When: Every two months on the first saturday (oct 4th, 2014 being the most current).  It has been going on for 2 years now.

Vibe:  We hold it in a fairly upscale gay bar, it is a night for furries by furries. So we don’t share the night with anyone else. We get a fairly large turn out of locals usually about 70. The event is open to anyone and it is really pretty awesome, everyone seems to know each other. We strive to create a fairly friendly and fun environment, but it is more targeted towards an adult furry night as the bar only serves drinks and it is 21+.

How was it established:  So I used to live in Washington DC and have sign a number of different similar event formats, but I knew I wanted something that was more for furries and didn’t share a dance night with other groups, or was gonna have to be family friendly.

I (Kelar) originally attended frolic, then pestered Neonbunny about how to establish such an event here. Then I rounded up some local furs to help make it happen. Initially we scoped out various bars, and our first event was at the FoxBar in Ft. Collins, which went really well, but shortly after our first event the bar burned down!. So we had to find another bar, so we started scoping out bars again, this time one of the founders (Ilris) had put together a really nice portfolio so we could easily show bar owners what fursuits looked like and what to expect from such an event. We talked to a few bars and were lucky enough to find the Aqua Lounge – they let us do a test night and we brought in enough money for the bar to make it worth their while. Ever since we’ve been at the Aqua Lounge with the exception of a FoxTrot that coincided with the local Colorado Furry Con RMFC, where we sought a bigger venue (The X Bar) and hired buses to bus people back and forth from the con.

To coincide with each event we (Dire) commission a custom poster, you can see them here:  http://www.furaffinity.net/gallery/foxtrotclub/

How is it promoted:  We promote it on Twitter and Reddit, and the local yahoo furry groups.

How is it received by the community:  They seem to like it 😛  It is mostly furries with a few non-furries.

Any difficulties?  We’ve had minor drama here and there, but nothing out of the ordinary for trying to run such an event.

Reactions from other venues:  From what I can tell we could write our own ticket in Denver to get venue space if needed. Denver is a pretty open and liberal city so it isn’t hard to find somewhere amenable to trying it.

*Reactions from Press – We haven’t been contacted from anyone in the press.

Costs to run it: We get a percentage of drink sales from the bar to pay for future artwork and event promotion. But we generally run a negative budget to keep the event going.

Comments from the bar owner:  The bar loves us and has accommodated our needs, and we are really thrilled to have a partner in the bar.

Stories about attending: You may be able to find some on our twitter feed.

Videos or pics:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/65771482@N02