Time was very limited when it came to prepping for this event. Mostly because I was also working on prepping for Bewhiskered which will happen in October. I wish I had more time to prepare for this event and make paws and other stuff because I'm positive that had I had more tails, paws and other stuff that I would've done better. Not to say this event wasn't fun or anything but I just wish I had more time to prepare. ;w; We left around 12:30 AM and headed out for the event. This was my first time going to an event so far away and into the beautiful mountains of NC. Asheville was the farthest I had went for into the mountains for a fur con so I won't lie when I say it was a bit spooky heading 3 hours to the mountains in the middle of Nantahala National Forest. ^^; My parents were even worried enough that they armed me with a baseball bat and a little pocket knife. ^^; Around 2AM we stopped at a Shell gas station to fuel back up after having driven on I-40 for what felt like forever. We walked in and chatted with a really nice store clerk lady who noticed my best friend's shirt (It was a Gon and Killua shirt) and chatted with us about Hunter X Hunter and how they felt bad about Kurapika. It was a memorable but small experience that helped make the trip up feel much more fun. ^u^ After fueling up we headed back out and were routed through the ever ominous but pretty Historic Canton and Clyde. I have to say driving through Historic Canton and seeing old timey buildings and then ominous smoke stacks in the background at like 2 or 3AM was definitely a bit spooky. After passing through Canton we made it to Clyde and visibility dropped super fast. The whole area felt like a ghost town and the fog (or smog from Canton??) made it feel like we were heading to Silent Hill. A bit unnerving to say the least. But thankfully this part of the trip didn't last super long and we moved on down I-40 through the last few cities along the way. Slowly we passed through some of the last bits of civilization and further into the mountains. This would've been pretty I'm sure had it not been 3AM. We arrived at Fontana Dam around 4AM checked in and headed up to our room. We were in the Cabana Room No. 117. Really close to the second smaller pool which we sadly didn't have time to check out. :(( I didn't get pictures of the room because I kinda forgot since we were both so dog tired. We woke up around 2PM and headed down to the Wildwood grill to sit down and check our notifications and wait for Dealers Den to open for set up. Dealers Den was in the Oak Suite; Walking down the stone path by the side, down the stairs and to the deck led to the Wildwood Grill restaurant. We just sat down there and chatted for a bit until we were notified that the Den had open and we headed up to set up. Set up took quite a bit as I was given a 8ft table and it was my first time trying to set up an 8ft set up. I was honestly a little caught off guard by how much space I got but I worked with what I was given. After my table was mostly set up we headed down to the Wildwood Grill to grab a bite before we set up my bestie's table. He ordered a margarita pizza and I ordered the chicken tenders. It took quite a bit that day to get our food and we were there eating and chatting until closing time but it was fun! I normally am a bit more awkward about eating in public spaces but I enjoyed doing something different. The food was pretty good as well! The tea was a bit odd and not as sweet as I'm used to but a sugar packet fixed that lol After eating we headed back up and finished setting up bestie's table and finished that around 8 or 9PM. We quickly stopped by Main Events to pick up our badges and then headed back up to the room to finish the last bits of our work for the next day. We worked all night into the morning; Me working on finishing up Blitz the Wolf, mini partial and bestie finishing up all the fursuit bandana's he needed to finish. We both got everything done by 6AM and decided to stay up all day so we didn't sleep past the opening of Dealers den at 10AM. We walked down the weird mulch path to the Oak Suite and finished placing and setting up the last bits of our tables and waited for the Den to open. Both incredibly tired and feeling like death. Friday was super slow and not too many people came through. I mostly just sat there chatting with my bestie on telegram and brain-rotting on our weird furry cinematic universe. In fact it's mostly what I did for a majority of the event since it was a more slow and chill, small kinda con. Due to how slow traffic was through the den I had asked the dealers head, my friend, if me and Katsu (bestie) could leave early due to being so tired from staying up so long. They agreed and we left 2 hours before the den closed to get some food and sleep. We both ordered some chicken tenders and sweet potato fries from the Wildwood Grill. Katsu (bestie) went back up to the room to rest for a bit while I got the food. I probably waited about 30 minutes on food but it was super worth the wait, especially the fries! After a really nice and super long sleep, Saturday was basically a repeat of Friday. It was just as slow and only picked up for a little bit after the main events held that day had ended. Me and Katsu vended the whole day and kept chatting with each other about our characters and other silly stuff. Even after dealers den closed for the day we spent our time brainstorming things for the FCU and talking about story planning stuff for one of our first character pairings in the cabana room. We didn't really spend a lot of time exploring the event or going to panels/ experiencing the con. Sitting in dealers den all day honestly tired us both out quite significantly. We did however go down to the neat little convenience store on Saturday and bought a few things to eat during our dealers lunch break! Sunday followed a similar timeline in Dealers Den as the days prior and was actually the slowest day out of the 3 days. It honestly felt like it dragged on with slow things went. As dealers den and the con came to a close that day we started packing up our tables and stuff to throw into the car. While doing so a few vendors/staff saw that I had pinup prints and were super interested, netting me a few more sales that day while closing up. All the vendors and staff were super nice and even helped up pack and carry things to the car to load up. After loading everything back into the car with my usual Jenga skills we headed to the Wildwood Grill one last time and ordered some cheesy buffalo bites, blue cheese chips, a sandwhich and a wrap. All of these things were super tasty always. We had intended to stay for a bit and chat about things before leaving but we felt a bit sick and decided to leave. Packing the food up in take home boxes and heading to the car, we left the con while still bright out and headed on our way. Going down the mountain was absolutely GORGEOUS during the day and way less spooky. We did stop in Bryson City on the way down to grab a bite to eat at their Mcdonalds. Bryson City was super old looking and honestly looked straight out of the 70's / old country towns in West Virginia. Another hour or so later and we stopped this time in Asheville to get some gas. This was by far the weirdest experience of my life as well. Pulling in at the pump, the pump itself had all sorts of furry stuff and expletives written on it. In the parking lot there were a bunch of high school aged kids in white t-shirts with the chevy logo on it just hanging out and chuckling. Walking inside the gas station to pay, the employee running the register was doing so using an xbox or playstation controller (I'm not sure which) as he rung up the amount for me and turned the pump on. Once again genuinely the most odd stop in the entire trip and definitely memorable lmao
We got home rather late and were honestly, as we are after each con, dog tired and happy to be home! FTO was honestly a super enjoyable event that gave both Katsu and I the chance to just sit and enjoy the mountains/nature around us with little internet, plus enjoy the time spent with each other chatting about our characters and coming up with silly scenarios. This con was honestly fun in that regard. I believe when the weekend was over I made just over $700 USD. Which honestly wasn't too bad for a small con of just 200 attendees. However this con will take the cake for the worst vending experience I've ever had as far as traffic and sales go. (But mainly traffic) After all the expenses to vend at this event and stay there, plus food and taxes, I was in the negatives for FTO. While I enjoyed it for other reasons I most likely will not be returning next year as I cannot justify the price of this con compared to the profit. I thank FTO for having me this year and wish their fun little con lots of luck for the future! ^u^ 💖
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AuthorI'm a small full time Fursuit Maker and Artist living in NC Archives
October 2023
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