Ven “Giga” Ferlin, Animal Warrior Unit co-founder and co-manager, told the Standard-Examiner earlier this month that AWU is becoming one of the biggest furry conventions in the western United States.

“We’re excited to bring together everybody who is a fan of anthropomorphic animals, animation, video games or anything that has to do with a little bit of fur or scales on it,” Ferlin said. “This year, our theme is going to be ‘Animal Warrior Unit.’ It is a Super Sentai/Power Rangers-inspired theme that brings together monstrous kaiju-versus-mechs sort of a feeling you get from movies like Pacific Rim and squashes it together with that more Saturday morning cartoon, Power Rangers aesthetic.”

Ferlin gave a little bit of insight into what attendees can expect this year.

“We have yet to officially announce who our guests of honor are this year, but we can say we have some incredible artists that are returning to help us out with all of our merchandising and all of our theming that happens around the convention,” Ferlin said. “We’re kind of shooting for that neon-soaked cyberpunk world, but bringing it into more of a Saturday morning cartoon space with our art direction this year. We’re also going to be having a professional voice actor join us in order to help bring our characters to life this year.”

Rob Nielsen, Standard-Examiner

Ferlin added that the convention will also be working with a new arcade provider that will bring in new arcade equipment.

But before any of that can happen, there’s the planning process.

‘Bullheaded determination’

According to Ferlin, planning for this year’s convention began almost as soon as the last one closed in August 2025.

“There’s a little bit of bullheaded determination that comes into a lot of these planning meetings,” Ferlin said. “None of us on the board had ever run a convention before this one, so every year, we find something new that we have either never encountered before, or it’s our first time dealing with this specific thing, whether that be in the world of contracting or when it comes to putting together taxes for something like this or having more and more attendees every year and looking for how to manage our convention space, how to manage scheduling and everything else.”

Rob Nielsen, Standard-Examiner

Ferlin said working as a team is one of the most important elements to making a convention successful.

“As a bunch of people who haven’t done this, per se, professionally, outside of (AWU), a lot of it is just that bullheaded determination where we can all get together, see what the problems are, recognize those problems and then also be humble enough to take feedback so that we recognize what those problems are from an outside perspective and then all work together to create something that is greater than the sum of its parts,” Ferlin said. “We’re all just here out of pure passion to make something amazing happen, and I think that’s our biggest strength, is just having that determination to make it happen.”

Ferlin said one of the biggest challenges that AWU and other furry conventions have been facing lately is actually keeping a human element to them.

“One thing that we really are striving to keep is that real genuine human angle, especially with our convention,” Ferlin said. “In the furry fandom in general, especially in the art scene, since it is so art-motivated and there are so many artists — and that’s really what makes the fandom what it is, in my opinion — one of the things that we’re really pushing towards and have been pushing towards ever since this kind of thing started happening was just a really human-made experience. We avoid using any sort of like generative AI or AI in general. Our artists that we bring in are all making handmade stuff, hand-drawn stuff.”

Ferlin said this extends to the merchandise that is sold in the convention space.

Rob Nielsen, Standard-Examiner

“When it comes to our Dealer’s Den, we do vet it to make sure that nobody’s bringing in generative AI products or art or anything like that,” Ferlin said. “And anybody who does, they’re the first people who end up on our cutting-room floor. But we do want to make sure that everything that is presented has that heart in it and that real genuine passion behind it.”

Ferlin added that growth has also challenged organizers from the first convention which attracted just over 500 people to last year’s, which attracted around 2,600.

“Managing that growth is definitely one of the more unique challenges, but I think it’s a good problem to have,” Ferlin said. “I’d say that another challenging bit is really just, especially right now, is figuring out how to bring everything together, source everything and work together to make sure that we are consistently putting together a good show and putting together consistently good merchandise. Anthro Weekend Utah has always been known for having some of the best merchandise in the fandom when it comes to convention merchandise.  And that’s something that we want to continue doing year after year and iterating on that and continuing to make something bigger and better each year.”

Ferlin added one of the most important elements of the convention is the volunteers.

“Volunteers make everything happen,” Ferlin said. “Without our volunteers, we wouldn’t have a convention. So we’re always very, very grateful for everybody who does volunteer. In order to get involved, we do just ask that you register for the convention and put down your interest in participating as a volunteer.”

Rob Nielsen, Standard-Examiner

Ferlin said volunteers can earn benefits such as free attendance or merchandise for helping with the convention. This year, the convention is aiming to bring in 60-70 volunteers.

“We would not be upset if we had more than 100,” Ferlin said. “The more volunteers we have, the more opportunities we have to make sure that all of our attendees are well taken care of. And especially as the convention grows every year, we are absolutely needing more and more people who are willing to offer a few hours to help us to make the convention as amazing as it can be.”

Ferlin said this year’s attendance is expected to be around 2,800 and could top 3,000 attendees.

An adventure

For Ferlin, there is only one way to describe each year of Anthro Weekend Utah.

“I think that every year is kind of its own new adventure,” Ferlin said. “I’m the person who typically ends up working on the overall storyline of the convention year by year, and watching our characters grow, and watching our attendees kind of grow with them, and who people end up getting attached to, and what storylines people really enjoy, and how the convention is just kind of becoming more than I ever could have intended it to be, or more than I ever could have anticipated, I guess. That’s a big part of what keeps me going with it — just seeing how many people love the convention, seeing how many people come back every year, and how it’s such an important part of their yearly schedule, and how it’s kind of just created this community that is so tight-knit, and so happy to come together year after year after year, just to see what’s going to happen, or just to meet up with each other again, or to have a good time.”

For more information on volunteering opportunities or the convention itself, visit https://anthroweekendutah.org/.