‘All things cats’: Calgary’s first annual Cat Festival kicked off

Calgary’s first annual Cat Festival and Market kicked off Saturday in an indoor venue on 8 Avenue SW to celebrate cats and support local animal rescue.

The festival drew cat lovers from all across the city.

Different vendors took part in the event where they sold catnip, cat beds, and “all things cats.”

Stephanie Sterling, board chair at the Meow Foundation says Calgary is in a crisis situation for stray and abandoned cats.

“Some of this is a reaction to the COVID years, so that services were really hard to access and so that meant there were a lot more that were getting pregnant, so we were getting a lot more kittens,” Sterling said. “We’ve already had two kittens seasoned this year, and we’re on our third. Normally we don’t see more than two. So there’re a lot of cats right now in adoption centers, in rescues, everyone’s full.”

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The festival sold over 1,000 tickets, but walk-ins were also welcome and ran on Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Meanwhile, the City of Calgary took to Twitter to encourage animal lovers to adopt.

“Now is a great time to adopt a furry friend!” The city said in a tweet.

????Now is a great time to adopt a furry friend!
Animal Services is offering 50% off the adoption fee for cats and dogs to help these animals find homes. If you’re interested, check out the available pets here:
????https://t.co/noHYYrGb2q
????https://t.co/HySdcAHvOS pic.twitter.com/lWgQ6FiWYz

— City of Calgary (@cityofcalgary) September 23, 2022

The tweet also reads people interested in adopting would get a 50 per cent off the adoption fee from Animal services to help cats and dogs find new homes.

— With files from Emma Kilburn-Smith.