By Katniss, Cat Reporter and The Catnip Times
Did you hear the mews? Saturday, September 19th, cat lovers of all ages gathered for an unfurrgettable day at Walker Art Center’s Internet Cat Video festival as it made its rounds to the Windy City. Humans purraded around in clever cat-themed tees, kitty ears and shoes…
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- Festival attendee decked out in a cute cat shirt.
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- Person wearing cute cat shoes
The event took place at the classic Athenaeum Theatre in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood and there were multiple screenings throughout the day. (So if you happened to take a cat nap and miss a screening, no worries. Not that that happened to me.)
This year’s winner of the purrstigious Gold Kitty Award, Alana Grelyak and Kris Flanagan from the CATastrophes web series, introduced the show which was also attended by everyone’s favorite cat purrsonality, Lil Bub, and her dude, Mike Bridavsky. When they came out on stage, audience members were asked not to clap as it might scare Bub. But it didn’t seem like she was afraid of laughter – and lots of it – as viewers LOLed at the best cat videos of 2015 with highlights from 2012, 2013 and 2014. The screening concluded with a viewing of the 5 finalists and CATastrophe’s #1 video, “Cat Behavior Finally Explained.”
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- Cat mascot in theatre balcony entertaining the crowd.
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- Event opening, with Alana Grelyak, Golden Kitty award winner.
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- Mike Bridavsky and Lil Bub have raised over $300,000 for cats.
Watch the five Internet Cat Video Finalist videos including the winning video: Cat Behavior Finally Explained. And check out the tour dates to see if the festival is coming to your town!
In addition to watching cat videos in public and not just on their smartphones while wearing pajamas with a cat on their lap, Humans were able to purrchase cat-themed merchandise (including catnip-filled toys, like catnip tacos, catnip strawberries and of course, catnip cigars – my fav!) and even adopt rescue kittens.
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- Kitten up for adoption via Chicago Cat Rescue
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- Raffle for charity
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- Chicago Cat Rescue
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- Kittens up for adoption at Treehouse Humane Society
Sponsors for the event included Realtors to the Rescue, Amy & Aimee Care for Cats, Dander crowdfunding app, Nature’s Logic, Prime Taste Treats, Kriser’s Natural Pet and Fresh Step.
100% of the proceeds from the event went to benefit Tree House Humane Society and Chicago Cat Rescue.
About Katniss, Cat Reporter:
Katniss was rescued from a high-kill shelter in Chatsworth, California in the spring of 2012. She is incredibly curious and inquisitive, thus the drive to become a reporter. She loves to cover the celebrity cat scene out in L.A. as well as other, interesting cats that cat lovers deserve to know.
