Recent News
Need a hotel room for Anthrocon? All double rooms are sold out except for Marriott and Wyndham Grand. Room blocks close on June 12th, reserve your hotel room now!
Head on over to our hotel page to get started!
Just as we did last year, we will also have a shuttle service running between overflow hotels and the DLCC this year every half hour. Schedules will be finalized and posted closer to the con.
As you may have heard, Anthrocon's selected charity this year is South Hills Pet Rescue. While cash donations made at the convention are great, the plurality of funds are raised via donations of artwork and merchandise to our Charity Auction and Raffle. We're looking for popular items and unique craftwork that will make people say, "I want that!"
Here are some examples of donations that went big in past years...
Great examples from prior raffles: Crafts based on hot trends ("Toothless" Build-A-Bear plus - $381); Popular media (Sherlock Hound DVD set - $147); Art bought at prior convention art shows ("Wrath" art by Terrie Smith - $83); Giant, brand new plush of popular animals or characters (Border collie plush - $129); Merchandise based on popular fiction (Dr. Who's sonic screwdriver - $158); Gift cards (Amazon $100 gift card - $305).
Great examples from prior auctions: Fursuit costumes and commissions (Griffon fursuit head - $460); Rare convention memorabilia (Full set of all AC t-shirts since 1997 - $200); Professional sculpture (Softsculp poseable gryphon - $350); Unique opportunities (A speaking part in audio version of Diane Duane's "The Last Meow" - $500); Dorsai fursuit tags (Tag #1000 - $1600); Contemporary culture ("Zootropolis" movie poster - $300).
If you have an item you believe would be appropriate and would like to donate, please contact charity(at)anthrocon.org!
Helpful links:
* Donations are distributed between the Raffle and Auction based on available space, time, and perceived and past value.
The sunset cruise will be sailing past PNC Park during the Pirates game. Perhaps we can get noticed and put up on the Jumbotron!!!
Don't wait, click here to buy your tickets today!
Our next Guest of Honor is a two-time Hugo Award Winner, and a Nebula Award Winner: Ursula Vernon! Her credits improve Mythopoeic Award (2013) winning webcomic Digger and her book series “Dragonbreath” which won the Sequoyah Book Award for Children’s Literature. Her short story “Jackalope Wives” won the Nebula Award for Best Short Story,
You can read more about her on our Guest of Honor page.
We're excited to welcome animator Len Simon as our 2018 Guest of Honor! Len’s notable works in film include Anastasia, Titan AE, Prince of Egypt, Curious George, and Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron.
You can read more about him on our Guest of Honor page.
On Friday, February 2nd, 2018 general hotel reservations will open at 11 AM Eastern Standard Time (GMT -0500). If we were to post the link on this website at 11 AM, the website would quickly become overwhelmed with all the requests. So instead, we will once again post the link on our various social media channels.
Shortly after 11 AM (as shown by the service at https://time.is/), the link to reserve hotel rooms will be posted in the following social media channels, in order:
...in the event that one service is down or otherwise unreachable, we will move onto the next service. The first 3 services (Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus) do not require accounts on those services to view--the page may simply be loaded (and refreshed) in your web browser.
As room types and hotels sell out, we will post updates to our Twitter feed.
After about an hour or two, once things have calmed down, we will then update our hotel page with details on each hotel's remaining inventory.
First, please visit our Anthrocon 2018 Hotel Reservation Experience Survey and let us know your thoughts on the reservation experience.
Next, make travel plans!
Finally, if you need roommates, you could ask on our Facebook Room Share Group or perhaps on #roomshare on our Discord server.
Anthrocon is pleased to announce that South Hills Pet Rescue will be our beneficiary for 2018's charity efforts. The following is a summary from South Hills Pet Rescue that summarizes their mission and efforts:
Nick Ferraro ran South Hills Pet Resort, a boarding and training facility, and purchased it in 2012. Ashley Rittle was having a hard time with her dog, and called Nick to request his training services. Little did they know the adventure ahead; they were married in June 2013, and that August, they were asked to help a local animal rescue that had been overwhelmed with dogs pulled from high-kill shelters set to be euthanized for behavioral issues. They agreed to take 13 dogs, but 62 dogs were dropped off at their door filling all of the Resort’s boarding kennels. Nick and Ashley cared for all 62 of these dogs in need, rehabilitating them before finding each dog a forever home. Ashley will tell you this is the moment they knew what they had to do. The plan was to dedicate ten of the Resort’s boarding kennels to dog rescue, but as we all know, plans often change.
Today, South Hills Pet Rescue (SHPR), an independent 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, houses an average of 50 rescue dogs at all times. Apart from three part-time staff members who care for the dogs onsite, SHPR is run by volunteers. Your support of SHPR directly helps dogs in need!
South Hills Pet Rescue will be at the Charity Auction and will have a table in the Dealers' Room where you can meet them and peruse information about their organization.
More information about South Hills Pet Rescue can be found at their website, southhillspetrescue.org. If you have any questions regarding South Hills Pet Rescue, they can be reached at shpr88(at)yahoo.com.
General hotel reservations open on February 2, 2018, along with corner suites in the Westin. However, at this time reservations for Suites in the Westin Hotel are now available!
To request a suite, please fill out this form. Information from that form will be passed onto the Convention Services Department at the Westin, who will begin contacting people as suites become available. Also note that a one-might deposit of room and tax will be required at the time of renting.
Westin Family Suite
Family Suite - $435 ($495) per night. A bedroom with two double beds and a separate medium-sized parlor with a table, chairs, and sofa (roughly 500 sq ft).
Business King - $495 ($564) per night. A very large single room with a king-sized bed and a huge amount of space, about 729 square feet total. Comes equipped with a sofa-bed.
Westin Business King Suite
Business Double - $495 ($564) per night. A very large single room with two double beds and a huge amount of space, about 729 square feet total. Comes equipped with a sofa-bed.
1-Bedroom Parlor - $535 ($609) per night. A bedroom with either two double-sized or one king-sized bed and a large separate parlor with its own bathroom, dining table, and sofa. The parlor is 729 square feet and the bedroom is about 364 square feet. Comes equipped with a sofa-bed.
Westin Workout Suite
2-Bedroom Parlor - $728 ($829) per night. A bedroom with a king-sized bed, a second bedroom with two double-beds, and between them a large separate parlor with its own bathroom, dining table, and sofa. The parlor is 729 square feet and each bedroom is about 364 square feet. Comes equipped with a sofa-bed.
Workout Suite - $435 ($495) per night. Similar to a family suite, but with a king bed and workout equipment for those who like to keep fit. The exercise equipment is stationary and cannot be moved from the room.
Corner Suite - $415 ($473) per night. A bedroom with a king-sized bed, and a separate, small parlor room with a table and a sofa (roughly 640 sq ft). These will go on sale when the general hotel room block opens on February 2nd, 2018.
As 2017 comes to a close, why not purchase a membership for Anthrocon?
Prices go up on January 1st, so you until the end of the month to purchase a membership for Anthrocon 2018.
That URL is: https://www.anthrocon.org/registration
Many thanks this year go to Warphammer and Kyreeth, for taking the fursuit photos, including the group photo during Saturday'sparade.
The big picture can be found here.
The photo is kinda big, and may cause problems in some browsers, so here are some smaller versions of the photo:
A preview of the above photos.
Were you looking for the rest of the fursuit photos? They are over here! If you are looking for photos with the baseball backdrop, those start on page 28.
We hope you enjoy the Anthrocon 2017 photos, and don't forget that if you'd like to share your own photos, please upload them to our group on Flickr.
