Furries You Meet at Camp Tiny Paws (August 2018)
by Patch O'Furr
Photo: twitter.com/thebecwar
When you’re tiny, less is more. When you’re a real-life 4-legged guinea pig named Tiny, having a convention named for you is a big honor. And for a moderately sized community, a smaller con can bring outsized fun.
That’s the vibe I got from my trip to this 2nd-year convention in Danbury, Connecticut. It drew around 300 attendees. Where I am in the San Francisco Bay Area, “the world’s greatest concentration of furries per square mile” (wikifur) has casual monthly meets that bring hundreds. It can be too much to keep up with. Do you ever get that feeling? Try events where furries are less dense. It’s like a throwback to a fresher, younger fandom.
Organizers K’gra and Nobody bring lots of positive energy for that. It cuts through negativity of current events like a rainbow laserbeam. They laughed about me being a mild, laid-back California dog person, and said “I can’t believe you came all the way here for this!” I said, “I can’t believe you invited me!”
Being a Guest of Honor came with a duty to support the con. The panel I did on self-employment (and DIY power of fandom) was well attended. Other well-known furry names gave support too. Meeting Uncle Kage and Boozy Badger made me appreciate them for bringing their mix of long experience and newer yet super vocal membership. And not just themselves, but their family and friends.
One of the most common comments about this year's camp was the amount of programming we had available.
— Counselor Tuck (@CTPTuck) August 22, 2018
Well that is thanks to all of you who took the time to develop and hold panels! We cannot thank you enough!
Some cons are party cons, but @TinyPaws_Con is def a con of crafts, creation & spaces that are designed to let kids have fun & be kids!
— @hi_cial@hyenas.space (@Hi_Cial) August 19, 2018
Me personally i love when theres an art jam & kids are loudly schooling us all on how to draw. Some of that confidence is infectious
