Heat wave saves city from furry parade

by Spencer Lombardo

A heatwave led furry convention organizers to cancel plans to parade through Pittsburgh dressed as animals over the weekend.

Thousands of furries gathered at Anthrocon, an annual convention held in Pittsburgh, WESA reported Monday. Its 20th year anniversary saw record numbers despite the National Weather Service declaring a heatwave in the region.

Anthrocon did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

Here’s how SPOOKY our numbers were for #Anthrocon 2026:

Attendees: 20,618 🫂
Charity money raised: over $86,000 🦆❤️
Heat index:

Next year, we’ll be officially LEVEL 30! Join us for Anthrocon 2027 “LEVEL 30: BEGIN” and our 30th con running from July 1-4, 2027! pic.twitter.com/Ko0h85t2bE

— Anthrocon, Inc. (@anthrocon) July 6, 2026

Furries are people with an interest in animals with human-like traits, according to Medium. Many dress up as their “fursona,” which is a furry’s avatar of themself within the furry community. There are an estimated 1.5-3 million furries worldwide as of September 2024.

Anthrocon saw a record 20,618 attendees, according to WESA. This is up from the furry convention’s previous attendance record of 18,357 last year. It also sold out of weekend passes for the first time this year.

However, organizers had to cancel their original plans of hosting an outdoor parade and watch party in light of a heatwave.

“These suits get very, very spicy,” Anthrocon safety director Nick Terwilliger, who dresses as a Aisu the Ice Cream Fox, told WESA. “So we are continuing to increase our staff size because safety is very important. We have a staff of close to 100 for safety alone. And the number of scheduled hours that we have are roughly 1,600 for the weekend.”

Some furries were reportedly concerned about the heat from the start.

“I think that it’s probably for the best,” Ohio-based firefighter Hayes Yocum, who dresses as a German shepherd named Kay, told WESA. “I’ve seen a lot of people; they’re very hot.”

Organizers reportedly adapted by replacing the parade with a “fursuit mingle” in the convention center.

Furry conventions often draw controversy for some of the people they attract. During “Rainfurrest 2015,” police visited the Hilton the convention was held at multiple times and arrested some furries for assault, sexual assault, and drug possession charges, according to the A.V. Club. Attendees reported a 2-inch wave of toilet water flooding the hotel lobby, nitrous oxide in the halls, and some furries wearing diapers over their costume in an act referred to as “crinkling.”

Approximately 10.1% of furries identify as straight, according to a 2020 survey conducted by Furscience.

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