Golden State Fur Con is a new SoCal Furry Convention being brought about by Corgi Events LLC. Let's check out what we know so far.

Last year I wrote about how longtime convention Califur was facing venue troubles, due in part to how some folks had taken it upon themselves to harass the con and other factors that led to its then-current hotel, The Sheraton Fairplex Hotel & Conference Center, to pull its contract with the convention.

After many rumors of other furries trying to start their own conventions it seems that a new challenger has stepped into the ring in an attempt to provide the SoCal area with a quality convention experience:

Enter Golden State Fur Con, being run by furry fandom event organizer Corgi Events LLC.

The Furry Event Management Company

But who exactly is Corgi Events LLC? Well…I wish I could tell you, but information outside of it being an “event management company” is difficult to find, along with a list of events currently managed by them that include Denfur (Which replaced Rocky Mountain Fur Con, another convention that had to shut down due to fandom-related problems), Aquatifur, and even a brony convention, Pony Cider Fest.

I attempted to track them down online, but had practically no luck. There’s a Twitter account and Company Webpage, but both are bare and it’s anyone’s guess if these are run by CEL employees. Though on the other hand, they could be placeholder accounts to prevent others from making accounts or webpages under the CEL name.

CEL does have a Facebook page but…it’s sparsely populated.

So all we really know is that it’s an event management company. Well, there was its former head guy, Treble, but he had to step down for “personal reasons” back in December 2018.

An important announcement regarding the future of our upper level management pic.twitter.com/UiycJBvMDm — Golden State Fur Con (@GSFurCon) December 4, 2018

What those reasons are seems to depend on who you ask.

Despite its rather in-the-shadows approach to things, it seems as if CEL has done a good job – Denfur seemed to go off without a hitch, and their recently ran Painted Desert Fur Con was well-received by the Arizona Furs. So here’s to hoping that Golden State Fur Con will continue this tradition.

But uh…what is Golden State Fur Con?

The Gold Rush to California

GSFC, as mentioned before, is the successor con to Califur. They’re aiming to fill in the hole that Califur left after its unfortunate shut down last year.

The con, according to the site’s About page, will be hosted over in Irvine at the Hilton Orange County Hotel, which is pretty neat as Califur used to be hosted over in Irvine. They’re aiming for the April 19th – 21st weekend, and tickets are already available up on their Eventbrite page.

However, that’s only for full-weekend passes. It seems like we’re stuck waiting until closer to con time to get the pricing for the day-only passes.

Their guest lineup consists of Pulex, a fandom artist, Foxes & Peppers, a musical duo consisting of Fox Amoore and Pepper Coyote, and Mischief Makers, a very popular and well-known fursuit making brand.

And uh…honestly if we’re going off of the information on the webpage, that’s all that I can tell you, as the con’s Twitter timeline seems to make no real mention of anything else, nor does the website.

I mean, you can try to see who’s behind all of this, but you get the same specter-esque treatment that CEL gives you when you try to look into it:

Also if you’re wondering about the theme, as far as I can recall, it’s 1920’s Themed. Which also isn’t on the website – I mean for all the supposedly wrong things Califur did, they at least would theme their webpage around their con theme – in fact, most cons will do that but who knows, maybe CEL’s trying to be different from the herd with GSFC.

Though, they do have that stereotypical California Beach look going on…which kinda seems odd considering the name draws to mind the gold rush era prospectin’ rootin’ tootin’ aesthetic.

How did I find out the theme, you wonder? I just happened to be around in the con’s Telegram chat to hear one of the staff mention it.

Hopeful Outcomes

Don’t take me the wrong way, though. I don’t want this convention to do bad, and I’m not being mean-spirited towards their branding’s shortcomings. But it’s worth pointing this out: the more you seem to be secretive about things, the more people will talk.

There’s only so much placating you can do with “We got this all worked out, trust us.” Califur pulled the same shtick with us and it’s currently living in the Furry Convention Shadowrealm.

Perhaps I subscribe too much to Gary Vaynerchuck’s whole “build your brand strong” attitude, but I really feel like these seemingly little things, like filling out the staff list, having a themed webpage, and other such things can help. The little things…they help show that you care.

And as Vaynerchuck says, “Your personal brand is your resume.”

Okay, that’s for personal branding, but I still feel that it’s valid for companies, especially small businesses looking to break out.

That’s not to say that CEL doesn’t care about making GSFC a winner but when you haven’t even updated your Twitter link to include your main site and not the Eventbrite page, it doesn’t help.

I’d say this challenger has what it takes to definitely stay in the ring for at least one round – but we’ll see how things pan out for the long run. They seem to have business operations running smooth but as far as keeping us, the public, informed about the who, what, when, and where, it seems worryingly minimal.

And don’t bet too much on this being a quick bout. Remember, Apollo Creed thought he’d take Rocky down easily and that fight ended up lasting several rounds.

But what are your thoughts on this? Does GSFC seem promising, is it doomed, does it seem shady, or are you of my persuasion where I’m keeping it optimistic, but also keeping in mind perceived shortcomings? I’d love to hear your thoughts – both furry and non-furry, in the comments below.

Thanks for reading and as always…keep your guard up, get in those jabs, and set ‘em up for the right hook knockout.

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