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meowfest 2019 Recap: meowfest comes to Toronto!

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On July 6th, 2019, over 3000 cat lovers braved the heat and converged on Toronto for the second annual meowfest.

This year’s festival proceeds were donated to Toronto Cat Rescue, a volunteer-run rescue. After an exciting sold-out event, a total of $16,300 was donated to Toronto Cat Rescue!

Photo by: Peatures

Ticket holders lined up outside of Evergreen Brick Works as early as 9 am in anticipation of the feline-fun to be had inside. Vendors were stocked with adorable cat-related goodies, cat celebrities were preparing to be meeted-and-greeted, and some lucky kitties from Toronto Cat Rescue were ready to find their furrever homes.

Early festival-goers snagged a swag bag of goodies and were first to wander through the Marketplace and meet the adorable kitties up for adoption – by noon, all of the kitties on site were adopted.

Photos by: Peatures

Pudge and the Dark Lord kicked off the Meet and Greets for the day. Nala, Venus the Two Face Cat, and Klaus & Juno later had their turn to get some chin scratches and take a snapshot with their devoted fans.

Photos by: Peatures

Mister Puffles was first up in the Superrstar spotlight, and Merlin Ragdoll took over in the afternoon, both kitties offering free meet and greets so festival-goers could get their celebri-cat fix.

Photo by: Peatures

In the workshop hall, Andrew Marttila took centre stage with a Pet Photography workshop for budding animal photographers. He later joined Hannah Shaw for a joint meet and greet.

Mick Szydlowski, cat-dad to Klaus and Juno, presented a talk about life with special needs pets and the rewards and challenges of caring for these kitties.

Hannah Shaw rounded off the day of workshops with two separate talks: one about saving vulnerable kittens, and another about TNR and feral felines in the community.

Meowmosas, wine, and beer were served outdoors at the Drinking Fountain. At the Food Bowl, local food vendors were cooking up mouthwatering eats. Animal Liberation Kitchen and Sausage Party brought tasty vegan goodies, Los Vietnamita Taqueria served Vietnamese-Mexican fusion, and Omusubi Bar Suzume served bite-sized omusubi.

Picasso Painters was also on site offering free face painting, and those who passed the meowfest information booth were able to grab a meowfest temporary tattoo.

At the outdoor stage, the crowd was treated to live performances from local singer Bridgette Anderson, and viral the cat rapper, IAmMoShow. IAmMoShow later joined his fans for a one-on-one meet and greet. Headliners also took the stage for lively panels, to answer our burning questions about the inner workings of the world of Instagram cats.

Photo by: Peatures

Those who were looking for the purrfect Insta-worthy moment jumped in to Cosmic Pet’s g(Litter) Box, which was filled with sparkly pom-poms, poop emoji pillows, and a glittery shovel to make for a cheeky photo op.

And that wrapped up an exciting and busy day of celebrating the one thing that brings us all together – cats! We couldn’t be more grateful for the support of our attendees, vendors, and volunteers that help us make meowfest a reality. We can’t wait to see mew again next year!

We’d like to say a special thank-mew to our sponsors, Cosmic Pet and Peatures Photography, as well as our headliners Nala, Pudge, Klaus & Juno, and Cats of Instagram for donating their time!

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