{"id":234441,"date":"2026-07-03T05:37:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T05:37:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/234441\/"},"modified":"2026-07-03T05:37:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T05:37:16","slug":"the-biggest-furry-convention-in-the-world-is-back-in-pittsburgh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/234441\/","title":{"rendered":"The biggest furry convention in the world is back in Pittsburgh"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>July 2, 2026, 4:03 p.m. ET<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Anthrocon returns to downtown Pittsburgh this week, bringing thousands of fans of anthropomorphic, or human-like, animal characters to the David L. Lawrence Convention Center for four days of programming. The event, themed \u201cCritters, Cryptids &amp; Curses\u201d for 2026, is widely billed as the world\u2019s largest furry convention, drawing attendees from across the country and around the globe.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Furries are people who enjoy imagining and creating animal characters with human traits through art, writing, performance and elaborate \u201cfursuits\u201d that turn the convention center and streets into a moving, colorful parade. For many, the draw is creativity and community: Anthrocon offers panels, workshops, dance competitions, river cruises, art shows, and its signature fursuit parade and block party that spill out into downtown and the Cultural District.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"\" class=\"gnt_em_vp_img\" data-g-r=\"lazy vp_po\" data-gl-src=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/gcdn\/authoring\/authoring-images\/2026\/06\/29\/USAT\/90744477007-screenshot-20260629-155541.png?crop=321,181,x0,y25&amp;width=660&amp;height=371&amp;format=pjpg&amp;auto=webp\" data-gl- decoding=\"async\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">The convention is also a major economic driver. Recent years have seen Anthrocon generate in the range of about $21 million to $22 million dollars in direct visitor spending for Pittsburgh, filling hotels, restaurants and bars and making it one of the city\u2019s most lucrative annual gatherings. Organizers note that the fandom\u2019s long relationship with Pittsburgh \u2014 they moved Anthrocon to the city in 2006 \u2014 along with hundreds of thousands raised for local charities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">For schedules, registration information and a full list of events, visitors can go to the official Anthrocon website at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.anthrocon.org\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-t-l=\":b|z|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">anthrocon.org<\/a> or VisitPittsburgh\u2019s convention guide at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitpittsburgh.com\/pittsburgh-anthrocon\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-t-l=\":b|z|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">visitpittsburgh.com\/pittsburgh-anthrocon<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img class=\"gnt_em_cp_cw_i\" data-g-r=\"lazy\" data-gl-src=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/gcdn\/authoring\/authoring-images\/2026\/05\/07\/PBRE\/89983553007-img-3062.jpeg?crop=3797,2847,x0,y0&amp;width=258&amp;height=193&amp;format=pjpg&amp;auto=webp\" data-gl- decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">This article by Gabby Sartori was created with the\u00a0assistance\u00a0of Artificial Intelligence (AI).\u00a0Journalists were involved in every step of the information gathering, review,\u00a0editing\u00a0and publishing process.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/cm.usatoday.com\/ethical-conduct\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">Learn more<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"July 2, 2026, 4:03 p.m. ET Anthrocon returns to downtown Pittsburgh this week, bringing thousands of fans of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":234442,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[596,73,75,74,82633,1166,1167,1852,27955,3598,51489,1854,651,542,2514,72380,87400,535],"class_list":["post-234441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-accessmetered","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-sourceusa-today","tag-sstsnews","tag-sstsnnews","tag-tagevents-listings","tag-tagexpos-conventions","tag-taggeographic-reference","tag-taggpi-460-copywriting-tool","tag-taglocal-affiliate-arts-entertainment","tag-taglocal-news","tag-tagoverall-positive","tag-tagpittsburgh","tag-tagpittsburgh-connect","tag-tagsubcultures-niche-interests","tag-typestory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234441\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}