There's apparently now a war against furries.
We have learned that Oklacon – the world's largest outdoor furry festival – has been cancelled indefinitely. The event was held at Roman Nose State Park for 12 consecutive years. Here's how we described the convention and furries last year:
If you have live a sheltered life and don’t know what a furry is, it’s basically a person who likes to dress up in an animal or mascot costume and assume a different persona. A furry convention, on the other hand, is where furries gather to talk, interact, mingle and have sex with other furries while dressed in their costumes. Make sense?
Well, it looks like my tongue-in-cheek description of the event was a little too spot on. Check out the reason the conference has been cancelled.
Via the Oklacon webpage:
As we informed you earlier this year, Roman Nose State Park terminated our relationship and denied our group camp application for Oklacon 2015...
The final straw for Oklacon’s ouster from RNSP was three first-time, out-of-state individuals who elected to show up, register for our event, and engage in lewd and illegal conduct on the state park grounds, on group camp space under Oklacon’s name, as was already announced in detail here.
Wow. This is so embarrassing. I honestly had no clue that having an orgy with other furries was against park rules. I feel really terrible now. I couldn't control myself. You put a giant rabbit costume on me and it's like I really do turn into a different animal. I sincerely apologize. It won't happen again.
Since the folks at Roman Nose wouldn't allow the meeting, OklaCon searched for a more welcoming place that is more tolerant of furry lifestyles. Sadly, it looks like the group has been blacklisted and banned from any state park:
We found what should have been a great opportunity for the convention, Sequoyah State Park. It included expansion options, higher quality facilities, and a new hope for Oklacon to carry on another year...
Last week, an Oklacon attendee directly contacted Sequoyah and linked our event with these serious lapses in judgement by those three individuals that damaged Oklacon’s reputation and ability to host at RNSP to the Sequoyah State Park staff. Sequoyah now views us as too large of a liability to be hosted there, and we have received notice from the state-level management of the park system we will be denied from re-entry to any state park in the future.
Wow, that's brutal. They're denied re-entry into any state park because a few bad apples engaged in lewd acts in furry costumes? If anything, that makes me want to go to a state park. Also, have the people who run the state parks never been to an Oklahoma lake over a holiday? They basically turn into Sodom and Gomorrah. You don't see them turning away boaters, do you? There is obviously some sort of prejudice against furries going on here.
I tried to calling the Oklahoma Tourism Department to confirm this new anti-furry policy, but nobody answered the phone. They were probably too busy traveling the Adventure Road. I'd suggest that whoever is in charge of the parks should read this final note from Oklacon organizers. It will bring a tear to your eye:
Oklacon ran for 12 years, welcoming over 1,720 unique faces into the wild splendors of Oklahoma. In a world before FWA, Califur, RMFC, or RainFurrest, we united the whole Southwest in one exciting and refreshingly different event and created a safe haven for many young furs in particular. Many of you reading this will recount some great memories and wonderful friendships made at Oklacon over the years and some call it your very first con, or even your ‘home con’. Through everyone’s generosity, we raised over $50,000 for two amazing Oklahoma charities - Safari’s Animal Sanctuary of Broken Arrow, OK and later, Wildcare Foundation of Noble, OK. We brought many firsts to the furry community, such as Charity Poker, which is now a staple event at many cons from coast to coast, and with the help of our great friends at Feral!, Predator and Prey debuted in the United States in a way only an outdoor convention could do justice to.
We’ll be honest - this outcome is a shame and a huge disappointment for all of us who have worked for so many years to bring a great time to all. And with great care and regret, we close the last chapter of the fantastic story that is “Oklacon” in the history of the furry fandom. It is with great sadness, but also optimism we look forward for what happens next. Oklacon was only ever a group of great people who wanted to see an Oklahoma owned and operated furry convention. That community has only grown and strengthened over great memories of hotdogs over the campfire, hot chocolate on a chill autumn morning, or howling into the moonlit October sky during a late night game of Werewolf.
Seriously, I really feel bad for our furry friends. Most of them are just your typical hard-working, regular old people who like to dress up in animal costumes, camp and play a game of frisbee or, uhm, late night Werewolf. It sucks that a few assholes ruined this for them. Hopefully they find a more welcoming, tolerant place to host future Oklacons. I'd suggest the Orr Family Farm or Bricktown.
