Eufuria, a furry convention that started as a small get-together between friends in 2023, has grown into a three-day event attracting thousands of furries from across the Northeast.
Furries of all species roamed the halls of the Albany Capital Center over the weekend. They played instruments and squeaked dog toys as they participated in a parade in the convention's theme — The Black Pawrade, a play on My Chemical Romance's 2006 hit song.
Furries are individuals who take interest in and cosplay as animals who present humanlike qualities.
Athena Rose of Albany, whose fursona — or animal persona — is a pink dragon, said she was enjoying her first time at any fur-con.
"Probably just making new friends, just finding people who I have unexpected connections with and stuff," Rose said. "And a lot of the con is kind of facilitating that, and a lot of it's just like events kind of breaking that up. Also, it's an interesting mix, and there's the quiet room and stuff."
Rose, who has lived all over the U.S., said she makes friends each time she moves through localized furry fandoms.
"It's just a quick, easy way to kind of get friends who are similarly like, you know, weird movies and alt music and ... you know, being animals and stuff like it's really cool," Rose said.
Art is important in furry fandom — from the making of suits, to animation, to music.
Richard Yerardi, of Waltham, Mass., whose fursona is a cat called Cyan Glaciertooth, was a part of a panel discussion at the convention. He said this is part of what makes the fandom so vibrant.
During a panel, Yerardi said he has turned his hobby as a furry into a career as a sports mascot cartoonist.
"Rather than the one that got me to fandom, there's some that I designed, like the Quad City Flames mascot named Firestorm the Fox, and there's one for a women's football team called the Boston Renegades, known as Rush the Raccoon, that I also designed," Yerardi said.
Many aspects of this year's event were aimed at creating a safe and empowering environment.
Over the last decade, furries have faced ongoing stigma surrounding stereotypes and accusations that they think they are animals, are sexually deviant, and lack hygiene and social skills.
Rose says self-policing is one of the major issues that leads to misconceptions surrounding the furry fandom.
"We need to do it well more of the time, because the times when it doesn't go well, then it turns into the horror stories that people may have heard or associate," Rose said. "I mean, these horror stories happen unfortunately in every community, which is bad."
Yerardi said he wants those who are skeptical to understand the fandom is a hobby for most.
"You know, I mean, it has that whimsical charm to it," Yerardi said. "That's why I find these so entertaining, so amusing. Like, there's nothing wrong with, you know, being a fan of stuff like that, conventional or not, I mean, it's not really hurting anyone."
Rose said she wants people to know, at the end of the day, furries are just people looking for a sense of community.
"That's kind of the mental image that I like more people to kind of think of because it really is, at the end of the day, a lot of nerds," Rose said, "a lot of us are really sensitive and like disabled, or we have like invisible disabilities."