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Photos From The First Ever CatCon, AKA Comic-Con For Cat People
By Jessie Schiewe
Over the weekend, thousands of feline fans flocked to The Reefin downtown LA for the first ever CatCon. Dozens of vendors sold cat-themed goods, from gourmet meals (who knew Rachel Ray made cat food?) to cat teacups to zany cat furniture shaped like grandfather clocks and the Leaning Tower of Pisa. There were whiskered paintings of Andy Warhol and Frida Kahlo, as well as paintings of human torsos with cat heads. Attendees could get free cat-themed manicures and there was even a station for “caticature” drawings.
The crowd was predominantly female, with a lot of 20- to 30-year-olds and what appeared to be some straggling boyfriends. Internet and Instagram celebrities like Lil Bub and Pudge were there, as well as human celebrities like Jack McBrayer of 30 Rock and a slew of cat-themed writers and artists. There were cats up for adoption and 78 cats were adopted by the end of the weekend.
The point of the event was to “break down the stereotype of the weird cat person,” said Susan Michals, the cable television producer who organized the soiree. But in reality, it embraced it. Attendees let their feline flag fly high and proud at the event, with plenty of people wearing cat ear headbands and detachable tails and practically everyone wearing some sort of cat-print clothing item. There were women in cat patterned knee-high socks and men in baseball caps with ears. Shirts emblazoned with “Show Me Your Kitties” and “I got 99 problems, but my cat ain’t one” were spotted and one woman was dressed entirely as Cat Woman.
Attendee Christine Watson, who was wearing pearl-adorned cat ears and a cat-patterned bowtie, told LAist that she was curious to see what CatCon had to offer and who would show up. “We’re not all crazy cat ladies, you know.”
Eds. note: In a previous version of this post, we misquoted Christine Watson and inaccurately described her outfit. LAist regrets the error.
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