meowfest 2022: A Caturday to Remember

Photos by Lee Alexander.

When we wrapped up meowfest Toronto in 2019, little did we know that we wouldn’t be setting up our next in-person event for another three years.

The pandemic may have pressed pause on our event plans, but it was all the more heartwarming to see our cat-loving community lining up outside Rocky Mountaineer Station in Vancouver on August 20th.

Spirits seemed to be higher than ever as attendees looked forward to a day of shopping, meet-and-greets, workshops, photo ops, eating, drinking, and cuddling adoptable kittens—all in support of local animal rescues.

With over 50 vendor booths, it was hard to leave empty-pawed! Attendees could shop everything from cat toys and accessories, art prints, stationery, apparel, catios, cat carriers, and more. Some even pounced on the opportunity to get started on their holiday shopping early.

Throughout the day, attendees could participate in the event scavenger game, which entailed visiting vendor booths for clues and collecting stamps. The scavenger hunt prizes included a catio by Hella’s Custom Catios, a Litter-Robot 3 Connect, and a year’s supply of ACANA cat food.

Immediately upon his arrival, local celepurrity BenBen CatCat was greeted by a throng of adoring fans. (How can you not adore that sweet sad face?) Attendees could get photos with headliners BenBen, Shelly Roche from Tiny Kittens, Bing Clawsby and Paw McCartney, BamBam the Hairless Munchkin and Fomo the Cat at their meet-and-greets.

Some headliners were spotted wandering between booths throughout the day, mingling with attendees and happily accepting pets.

Crowds flocked to the Purrformance Stage for compelling workshops and panels by RyerCat, Canopy Cat Rescue, and Your Cat Backpack by Travel Cat.

Tiny Kittens founder Shelly Roche and veterinarian Dr. Renee Ferguson shared their expurrtise on how to save feral cats through Trap-Neuter-Return.

The Cat Costume Contest, presented by meowbox was a hit! Contestants weren’t afraid to get into character, crawling and rolling on the floor in true feline fashion.

Of course, one of the best parts of any festival is the food! Attendees stayed well-fed and hydrated with various food truck options, including Chickpea, Super Thai, Cultivate, Culture Kombucha, the Coffee Bike, and YVR Cookie.

meowfest’s Mount Pleasant neighbours Whisk Matcha stayed busy with long lines of catffeine enthusiasts.

Of course, there were also a selection of refreshing beverages for the adult cat lovers, such as Nude sodas, Container Brewing beer, and wines from the adorable Vin Van.

DJ Marvel kept the energy going throughout the day.

Some attendees lined up more than once to play with the adoptable kittens from Langley Animal Protection Society. A whopping 20 kittens in total found their forever homes that day. This included Cookie, who was very fittingly adopted by Monique, founder of YVR Cookie!

Photo ops included a human-sized cat tree, cartoon cat cut-outs illustrated by artist @aliasxahna, and a giant version of Junior, an adoptable kitty at Catfé.

Some attendees got their creative juices flowing at a cat life drawing session and a community kitten mural hosted by Paintillio.

Those who preferred to be the canvases themselves lined up for face painting by Daaé Cosmetics and temporary cattoos by Ink Studio.

Romantic felines were in the air at Speed Dating for Cat Lovers, hosted by 25dates.com. Of the 14 men and 14 women who participated, 9 men received matches and 12 women received matches, setting the match average to 76%. Sounds like there was a good chance at least two participants found their purrfect match that day!

A huge meowt-out to our volunteers, sponsors, vendors, rescues, headliners, media partners, and attendees for making the event the huge success it was. Thanks to your purrticipation, we raised $23,995 which will be donated directly to Langley Animal Protection Society, and Tiny Kittens.

Please feel free to follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter for updates on future events.

See you next year!