Midwest FurFest (MFF) 2026 is scheduled for Dec 3-6, 2026 at Donald E. Stephens Convention Center. The announced theme is Bark to the Future. Guest of honor information lists Betamonkey, Zesty, Snuffles. The charity partner is Safe Humane Chicago.
Donald E. Stephens Convention Center[1]
5555 N River Rd, Rosemont, IL 60018, USA
Exterior
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From attendees
Pre-registration rate; $110 at-con. Includes the themed badge, lanyard, dealer and artist areas, Art Show, game room, programming, dances, and digital program guide.
Includes Standard benefits plus priority seating, early Thursday badge pickup, Sponsor Brunch, ribbon, T-shirt, pin, and additional sponsor gifts.
Includes Sponsor benefits plus the highest seating priority, a Shiny Sponsor Reception, Shiny Sponsor ribbon, shirt, and additional gifts.
Friday, Saturday, or Sunday access with Standard benefits for that day; the badge can be credited toward a full-weekend membership if available.
Given the scale and winter setting, advance planning is important:
Curated stays near Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, Rosemont, United States.
Hotel booking for MFF is highly competitive. Plan 9-12 months out.
Rooms in those blocks are not sold first come, first served. MFF allocates every one of them, suites and accessible rooms included, through a single-round lottery that you must already be registered to enter. For the 2026 convention that lottery opened on 26 August and closed on 3 September, with results promised by 14 September, so the booking window falls about three months before the convention itself.
If you missed the lottery, the remaining block rooms moved to open booking through the link on the MFF hotels page in late September. Cancelled rooms return to that pool, so it is worth checking back.
Watch for room-block scams. In June 2026 the convention warned attendees about fake emails claiming the hotel block had opened. MFF's own guidance is that room-block updates only ever come from the convention itself, never from a third party, so treat any other message offering you an MFF room as a phishing attempt and check furfest.org before clicking or paying.
A year-by-year record of this convention
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Pre-registration rate; $110 at-con. Includes the themed badge, lanyard, dealer and artist areas, Art Show, game room, programming, dances, and digital program guide.
Includes Standard benefits plus priority seating, early Thursday badge pickup, Sponsor Brunch, ribbon, T-shirt, pin, and additional sponsor gifts.
Includes Sponsor benefits plus the highest seating priority, a Shiny Sponsor Reception, Shiny Sponsor ribbon, shirt, and additional gifts.
Friday, Saturday, or Sunday access with Standard benefits for that day; the badge can be credited toward a full-weekend membership if available.
Midwest FurFest 2025 reached 16,925 attendees at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center. The event raised $151,517 for MCP Rescue + Outreach.
Trends
Compare dates, themes, attendance, charity, and guests across the record.
See how this convention grew over time.
2027
Dates TBA
2026
Dec 3-6
Theme
Bark to the Future
2025
Dec 4-7
Theme
Villainous Vacation
2024
Dec 5-8
2023
Nov 30 - Dec 3
Theme
Snow Day
2022
Dec 1-4
Theme
Heroes
Want more context? Compare this convention against other furry events or browse the attendance rankings.
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3 quirks & policies that don't fit the highlights grid.
Pedway-connected venue and the FurFest Transit Network
MFF runs out of the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont with the host Hyatt Regency O'Hare connected by skybridge to the show floor. The Aloft O'Hare and Crowne Plaza Chicago O'Hare are also pedway-linked, so three partner hotels' guests can reach the convention without ever stepping into a Chicago December.
One of the calendar's longest-running Fursuit Dance Competitions
The Midwest FurFest Fursuit Dance Competition has run since 2011, making it one of the oldest continuous comps in the fandom. Solo and group divisions share one open category, MFF dropped the Novice/Veteran split a few years back, citing how dancer talent has melded across cons.
Accessibility services led by disabled staff
MFF stood up a dedicated Accessibility Services Department in 2019, and the team is led and primarily staffed by disabled attendees themselves. ASL interpretation runs on all major events: Opening Ceremonies, the Fursuit Dance Competition, Floor Wars, Closing Ceremonies.
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