Stratosfur is a brand new fur con which is to take place Aug 14 & 15 2021 at the Hyatt Regency Houston Intercontinental Airport. I know from previous interviews I had that setting up a brand new fur con can be hard, as there is so much to do. But combined with this current pandemic, and all the uncertainties between now and August. I really wish them the best of luck.
I was happy that Nite, Stratosfur’s Con Chair even agreed to this interview.
FT: I want to start out with how Stratosfur was founded
Nite: The con was founded by a small group of Houston locals that wanted a con in Houston. After a trip to TFF some were inspired and started exploring the idea of a Houston con. There had always been talk of a con in Houston but with their push its finally happening.
FT: Was getting funding hard?
Nite: It was. There were plans to have special meets as fundraisers. The bowlings meets i hosted actually kicked it off and the first meets was a giant success. But this was January 2020. So covid came in and shut those plans down. Now we have a few houston locals that have pitched in. Myself including buying some items the con needs.
FT: That is so nice to hear it was grassroots. How was getting the hotel involved, such as getting space for the con?
Nite: Ideas for locations were taken from locals. Many suggested where previous anime cons were held. The board did their research on each of those locations before making a final selection. Our current location is near Bush intercontinental so its a big help if anyone flies in.
FT: I live in Chicago and the Hyatt Regency where MFF does there con it’s in a great location right next to the airport. And the name Stratosfur where did that come from? I could only assume it has something to do with Houston’s history with NASA.
Nite: Originally the con name was space city furcon. This name for a Houston con has been around since i can remember. The name changed, i believe because of a comic con here with the name space city.
Yes we did want to stay with the space theme so Stratosfur was a good pick to represent Houston.
FT: It is a good name, Is there is there anything you can talk about plans for the con such as dealers area and fursuit parade? I understand it’s early.
Nite: Dealers we i could. Fursuit parade we are still working on plans for that.
At the moment we have 2 plans for dealers. 1st plan is to keep dealers socially distanced and not over crowd the room. We are assuming the covid restrictions will be in place still. The hope is that we as a nation are close to herd immunity.
The second plan is if we have a green light and there are no restrictions so we run as normal.
As the situation with covid evolves we evaluate the plans and adjust if needed.
FT: I know that is what got a lot of cons are thinking. How do you run a con during the middle of this?
Do you limit attendance or not?
Is there anything you like to add?
Nite: There are alot of changes and things to rework and its alot of work for us. Our hope is that the current administration is correct and by may immunization will be available for everyone. As mentioned before we are looking at news for this everyday.
We dont have plans to limit attendance. But we will limit room capacity to keep people socially distanced.
Still I seriously wish them the very best.
Furry Times 