Ohio's largest furry convention ran May 22 to 24, 2026 at the Hilton Columbus Downtown under the theme "Rock You Like A Furricane." AnthrOhio posted a closing attendance of 3,902, a 53% year-over-year increase over 2025's 2,536 ("Of Fae and Fur"), and a new convention record. The 2026 edition also introduced "Exhibitors Row," a new meet-and-greet programming track that gave newer regional conventions floor space to recruit attendees.
Travel info, hotel detail, and every past edition sit on the AnthrOhio convention page.
After 2025's "Of Fae and Fur," AnthrOhio switched registers for 2026. "Rock You Like A Furricane" ran as a music-festival theme, its title a nod to the Scorpions track.
AnthrOhio sits on a crowded Midwest circuit alongside Indyfurcon, Motor City Furry Con, and MFF in December. Our Midwest convention guide and convention budgeting guide cover the basics.
The headline figure landed via the convention's own closing-day announcement: 3,902 attendees, a 53% year-over-year increase over 2025's 2,536. Compounding growth across three consecutive years has now turned AnthrOhio from a mid-sized regional event into the Midwest's flagship Memorial Day weekend convention.
The growth-curve breakdown:
The 2026 weekend ran simultaneously with Furlandia in Portland (4,395 attendees) and the Memorial Day camp event Howl at Camp Bonfire. Where Furlandia anchors the Pacific Northwest Memorial Day window, AnthrOhio anchors the Midwest, and neither competes meaningfully for the same attendee pool. The separation is geographic rather than a scheduling conflict.
The AnthrOhio 2026 programming addition worth recording was Exhibitors Row, a new on-floor track giving newer regional conventions a meet-and-greet platform alongside the standard dealers' floor.
In practice the track gave first-year or smaller-than-AnthrOhio conventions real estate to introduce themselves to attendees, hand out information, and recruit for the following year's edition. The structural payoff for a convention like AnthrOhio (the largest of the Midwest cluster) is meaningful: by hosting the smaller-con introduction infrastructure, AnthrOhio positions itself as the regional anchor that other Midwest conventions orbit around.
The model is reminiscent of how larger anime conventions have historically run convention-row programming, but it's new territory for the furry-convention circuit.
Our North American cons 2026 guide walks through which conventions are growing into anchor positions and which are still building their identity.
AnthrOhio 2026's charity beneficiary was confirmed as W.A.G.S. 4 Kids, an Ohio-based service-dog non-profit. Final fundraising total had not been published at the time of writing. For context, AnthrOhio 2025's total to Ohio Nature Education landed at $8,251.
The convention's pattern of rotating between Ohio-rooted animal-welfare partners (Ohio Nature Education, W.A.G.S. 4 Kids) is structurally similar to Furlandia's Pacific Northwest charity rotation and ANW's long Sarvey Wildlife partnership. The 2026 W.A.G.S. 4 Kids pick keeps the convention's charity dollars routed into Ohio infrastructure that attendees pass on their way into the convention center.
AnthrOhio runs at the Hilton Columbus Downtown, in the Short North district of Columbus, Ohio, directly across from the Greater Columbus Convention Center. The location is one of the convention's quiet advantages: the surrounding blocks carry a dense run of restaurants, coffee shops, and bars within easy walking distance, so attendees are not stranded in a hotel with a single overpriced lobby cafe.
Columbus is served by John Glenn Columbus International Airport (CMH), roughly fifteen minutes from downtown by car and inexpensive by rideshare. AnthrOhio also draws heavily from drive-in range: a large share of its attendance comes from Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Kentucky, and western Pennsylvania, all within a comfortable day's drive. That drive-in catchment is a real part of why the convention has been able to scale as fast as it has, since a Memorial Day weekend road trip is a far lower barrier than a flight.
Cost and booking strategy live in our convention budgeting guide and furry convention hotel block guide.
AnthrOhio's recent trajectory is one of the steepest in the Midwest:
| Year | Attendance |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 2,536 |
| 2026 | 3,902 |
A 53% year-over-year jump is dramatic at any size, and it moves AnthrOhio out of the mid-sized regional bracket and into the role of the Midwest's anchor Memorial Day weekend event. Growth at that rate puts pressure on exactly the things attendees notice first: function space, panel-room capacity, and the room block. It is the kind of curve that tends to force a venue conversation within a few years.
AnthrOhio's position on the calendar is part of its identity. Memorial Day weekend gives U.S. attendees a three-day weekend without spending vacation days, which lowers the cost of attending for exactly the drive-in audience the convention draws from. It also puts AnthrOhio in direct calendar company with Furlandia on the West Coast, so the two events rarely compete for the same attendees despite sharing a weekend.
When two events land on the same weekend, our which furry convention should I pick guide covers how to decide.
AnthrOhio has announced its 2027 edition: "Island Getaway," running May 21 to 23, 2027 at the Hilton Columbus Downtown, with Pirate Artisans as Guest of Honor.
Browse our complete calendar with dates, locations, and details for every upcoming furry convention.
View Full Calendar3,902 attendees, a record and a 53% year-over-year increase over 2025's 2,536. The figure was posted by the convention at close.
"Rock You Like A Furricane", a music-festival theme whose title references the Scorpions track.
Manick, Cosmik, and Rhubarb made up a three-strong GoH lineup.
A new on-floor programming track AnthrOhio introduced for 2026: a meet-and-greet platform for newer regional conventions, giving smaller cons real estate to introduce themselves to attendees and recruit for the following year.
May 21 to 23, 2027 at the Hilton Columbus Downtown, under the theme "Island Getaway," with Pirate Artisans as Guest of Honor.
The convention runs at the Hilton Columbus Downtown in Columbus, OH. The full venue, hotel, and travel rundown is on the AnthrOhio convention page.
Coming to AnthrOhio for the first time in 2027, our first con survival guide, first con packing list, and furry convention hotel block guide cover the basics. For how AnthrOhio compares across the North American circuit, our North American cons 2026 guide ranks the continent's major events by size, season, and travel cost.
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Sources:
#anthrohio on Bluesky, surfaced via FurryGuides' hashtag harvester (attribution per photo).Have a correction, additional source, or the official 2026 closing attendance/charity total to add? Send us a note and we will update this recap when new data lands.
Furlandia 2026 recap: a record 4,395 attendees (+61% YoY), the Wild Wild Furry West theme, and GoHs Jonah Scott, Kyell Gold, and Griffin Puatu.
Anthro New England 2026 recap: a record 7,284 attendees, $50,000 split between Wings Wildlife and Queer Scouts, and a 2027 venue expansion.
Anthro Northwest 2026 recap: a record 3,466 attendees, $30,040 for Sarvey Wildlife, a "Nature" theme, and a New Year's weekend at the Hyatt Regency Seattle.