Vancouver's First Caturday

What would your dream Saturday entail? For us, it would have to include friends, sunshine and a LOT of cats.

It turns out that we aren’t alone in this daydream. First Caturday is a monthly social that has recently started to pop up in cities throughout the US and Canada. It’s pretty much what it sounds like: cat lovers gather with their kitties on the first Saturday of every month to hang out, share their kitties, and bond over their love of felines.

Recently we had the purrivilege of attending a First Caturday meet-up at Vancouver’s Queen Elizabeth Park. We were excited to meet all the kitties and their humans, but we were also slightly sceptical. As much as we love ‘em, cats by nature aren’t the most social creatures, and can get easily stressed when removed from the safety of their homes.

However, we found that in the calm atmosphere of the park, the cats seemed to be relaxed and were surprisingly interactive. While the event started slow, more and more visitors came by as the afternoon went on, producing a much larger turn-out than we had expected. Cat owners who brought their kitties were happy to share their fur babies with others, and those without cats were warmly welcomed. Some attendees went all out and donned cat-themed apparel and accessories. There were kitties on leashes, in strollers, and even on people’s shoulders.

Overall the vibe of the event was laidback, positive and inclusive. We already knew that cat people were awesome, and the event reinforced this fact.

Interested in organizing First Caturday in your city? Create a Facebook event for the meet-up and add First Caturday as a co-host.