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…