Where can you go to see men, women and children dressed like cat characters, cat trees, characters from Cats, cat aliens, cat fairy tale characters and cat science fiction characters? It’s at Cat Con® of course, at the Pasadena Convention Center in Pasadena, California. They come, some 20,000 of them, from everywhere, and the people-watching is beyond words.
For the ninth year (my sixth) Cat Con, a massive gathering of cat people, just ended. The formal description on their website is “the biggest cat-centric, pop culture event in the world …” and no one disputes that description. For one day, everyone forgets their politics, world problems and credit card limits.
But this isn’t just a California thing! Meet our two favorite vendors, UT graduates, the Two Crazy Cat Ladies, Adrienne Lefebvre and Jae Kennedy. Adrienne, who is from Alcoa, met Jae, who is originally from Memphis, while they were undergraduates at UT. They discovered their mutual love of cats could turn into a business. They reside in Las Vegas and sell a variety of cat health products. Every year, we great each other with a loud “Go Vols!” They are also much in demand on the cat exhibition circuit. Yes, there is such a thing.
When I first saw the CatCon advertisement on Facebook in early 2017, I pounced on it. I called my sister-in-law in Phoenix, another cat person, and told her we had to go! My father lives only 20 minutes away from Pasadena so it worked purr-fectly. Not knowing what to expect, we walked in and were amazed at the friendly, feline atmosphere.
Believe it or not, there are NO cats allowed, for obvious reasons. The Pasadena Humane Society has a separate, cordoned off area for those who want to adopt. This is a smart way to keep impulse-adopting cat people like me away. This year, more than 200 cats and kittens were adopted over two days. Every year this is a resounding success.
There are more than 200 vendors who sell everything for cats and some things you would never imagine could be sold for cats: cat life preservers because cats love the water and boating so much; cat beds for $50 to $200 though we all know cats prefer Amazon boxes over their expensive beds; cat T-shirts because cats are so easy to dress; really expen$ive cat trees priced up to $2,000. This year, the best product vendor (in my opinion) was a guy who makes a piano that disburses cats treats when a key is played. If the cat is truly a feline musical prodigy, it can learn to play up to 14 notes.
Where was my husband during all of this? At home on cat duty, of course!
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- CatCon exhibitor Erin Simpson
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- Meowee Antoinette
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- UT grads,Two Crazy Cat Ladies, Adrienne Lefebvre and Jae Kennedy from Alcoa
If you want to keep reading for more cattrivia …
- How do you get there? The easiest way to get there is to fly into Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, thereby avoiding LAX. There are many hotels in the Pasadena-Glendale area.
- What is the atmosphere like? Friendly and very happy! Everyone is so glad to be there and very honored to have their picture taken.
- Why do we go? That’s easy – the people watching and to get free stuff. The vendors give away cat toys, cat nip, cat bandanas, stickers, books, stuffed cats, laser pointers and much more.
- Do you have to dress up? No. We don’t. My sister-in-law and I usually wear a T-shirt with a cat on it, but that’s it. We leave the dressing up to those who enjoy it and the many unemployed Hollywood actors who hope they will be discovered.
- Tickets are $35 for one day. This is for admission. There are additional charges for “famous” cat people, lectures and classes.
Melanie Staten is a public relations consultant with her husband, Vince.