Ohio's largest furry convention ran May 22 to 24, 2026 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, plus produced one of the weekend's defining venue stories when one of the Hilton towers' convention space did not open until Saturday morning.
For evergreen travel info, hotel detail, and the full Past Years archive, see the AnthrOhio convention page.
After 2025's softer "Of Fae and Fur" (a forest-and-fey aesthetic that paired with a mid-tier 2,536 attendees), AnthrOhio went hard the other direction for 2026. "Rock You Like A Furricane" leaned into rock-show staging: big-band lighting, headliner-set framing, and a dance floor that ran heavier than the convention's typical mid-tempo programming.
The Scorpions reference in the title gave the volunteer art and decor teams a clear visual direction (denim, leather jackets, hair-metal poster pastiche) and the convention's merch line followed accordingly. Where 2025's faerie theme produced delicate, woodland-style decor, 2026 produced lightning-bolt motifs and amplifier stacks.
For attendees thinking about how AnthrOhio fits the wider Midwest circuit (alongside Indyfurcon, Motor City Furry Con, 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, amplified by FurryTMZ on May 24, 2026: 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 (4,392 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 most-discussed AnthrOhio 2026 programming innovation was Exhibitors Row, a new on-floor track giving newer regional conventions a meet-and-greet platform alongside the standard dealers' floor. FurryTMZ first reported the initiative on May 5, 2026 with the post "AnthrOhio to create 'exhibitors row,' a meet and greet platform for newer conventions in the region."
In practice the track gave first-year or smaller-than-AnthrOhio conventions from Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan 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. Several attendees on community channels suggested it could become a template for other regional cons (AnthrOhio is well-positioned to do this because of its central Midwest geography, but the model would work just as well from Atlanta, the Pacific Northwest, or the Texas circuit).
For attendees curious about the wider U.S. mid-tier-convention landscape, our North American cons 2026 guide walks through which conventions are growing into anchor positions and which are still building their identity.
The defining pre-con venue story landed on May 15, 2026, when AnthrOhio publicly flagged that convention space in one of the Hilton towers would not open until Saturday morning. That announcement pushed scheduled Thursday and Friday programming into other rooms and reshuffled the convention's first-day footprint.
The cause was a venue-side schedule slip rather than a convention-staff issue. Community response on FurryTMZ ranged from understanding ("It's chill not too much crazy shit some parties") to flagging the logistics challenge for attendees who'd already planned around the original room assignments. The convention's programming team rebalanced affected sessions into the available rooms across Thursday and Friday and the floor reopened in full once the second tower came online Saturday.
Pre-con venue surprises at this scale aren't unique to AnthrOhio (CFZ's fire-alarm reputation, NFC's 2026 weather-driven parade cancellation, the LVFC pool closure scare are all in the same category), but the Saturday-morning timing made it harder to absorb than a closer-to-event resolution would have been.
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.
The 2027 edition of AnthrOhio has not been formally announced at the time of writing. The Memorial Day weekend slot is the convention's tradition, putting the most likely 2027 dates in the May 28 to 30 window if AnthrOhio keeps the pattern.
The structural question, the same one Furlandia and ANE have already faced in their 2027 announcements, is whether the venue still fits. At 3,902 attendees AnthrOhio is at the edge of what its current Hilton footprint can absorb comfortably (the Saturday-morning tower delay is itself a signal that the venue is operating close to capacity). If the convention continues to scale at any meaningful rate, a venue expansion conversation (additional overflow space, perhaps a Columbus-area convention center addition) is the natural next step.
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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 and amplified across community channels on May 24, 2026.
"Rock You Like A Furricane", a Scorpions-referencing rock-and-roll themed weekend with stage-show staging, hair-metal pastiche decor, and rock-coded merchandise.
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 in Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan, giving smaller Midwest cons real estate to introduce themselves to attendees and recruit for the following year. First reported by FurryTMZ on May 5, 2026.
Convention space in one of the Hilton towers had a venue-side schedule slip and did not open until Saturday morning. AnthrOhio rebalanced Thursday and Friday programming into the rooms that were available. The full venue footprint was online for the rest of the weekend.
The convention runs at the Hilton Columbus at Easton in Columbus, OH, with adjacent room blocks at sister Hilton properties in the Easton Town Center area. For full venue, hotel, and travel info, see the AnthrOhio convention page.
For first-time AnthrOhio attendees considering 2027, our first con survival guide, first con packing list, and furry convention hotel block guide cover the basics. If you are weighing AnthrOhio against the wider North American circuit, our North American cons 2026 guide ranks the continent's major events by size, season, and travel cost.
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), Wild Wild Furry West theme, GoHs Jonah Scott, Kyell Gold, and Griffin Puatu, and a hotel-block surprise.
Anthro New England 2026 recap: a record 7,284 attendees, $50,000 split between Wings Wildlife and Queer Scouts, "It's a Western!" theme, 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.