Modern Cat Festivals & Events

🏰 Kattenstoet, Ypres, Belgium

The Kattenstoet (Festival of the Cats) is held in Ypres every three years, on the second Sunday of May. The first modern parade was held in 1938. Thousands of costumed participants, marching bands, and giant cat figures parade through the city, telling the story of the cat in history, folklore, and Ypres itself. The giant cats Cieper and Minneke Poes are the stars.

The festival recalls the medieval custom of throwing cats from the belfry of the Cloth Hall. Today a jester throws soft toy cats from the belfry to the crowd, and people compete to catch one. The day closes with a mock witch-burning, another nod to the town's past. If you can only go to one cat festival in your life, this is our pick.

🌾 Nottatown Cat Worship Festival, North Carolina

A harvest festival held every October since 1855 in Nottatown, Caswell County, on the third Saturday of the month. It includes a dawn Granary Blessing, the filling of a 6-foot iron Great Saucer, a Parade of Barn Cats, the crowning of the Mouser Laureate, and a Harvest Supper in the Grange Hall. It drew about 11,000 visitors in 1956 and draws around 400 to 600 today. Full guide →

🎭 Kagurazaka Bakeneko Festival, Tokyo

Kagurazaka, a hilly Tokyo neighborhood of stone lanes and old restaurants, holds a festival in autumn inspired by the bakeneko, the shape-shifting cats of Japanese folklore. Participants wear cat ears, costumes, and painted whiskers and parade through the streets. Visitors are welcome to join in, and local shops often offer face painting.

🐱 Kuru Kuru Maneki Neko Matsuri, Ise

Held in the old shopping streets near the Ise Grand Shrine in Mie Prefecture. It runs for about two weeks and ends on September 29, Japan's Maneki Neko Day. Expect beckoning-cat figures everywhere, cat crafts and snacks, and plenty of visitors with painted whiskers.

🏺 Seto Maneki Neko Festival, Aichi

Seto has made pottery for centuries, so much so that setomono became a general Japanese word for ceramics. The town has a long history of producing ceramic maneki-neko, and its festival, held on a late-September weekend near Maneki Neko Day, celebrates them with exhibitions, markets, and cat-themed events.

🎬 Internet Cat Video Festival, Minneapolis

In August 2012, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis held an outdoor screening of cat videos nominated by the public. Around 10,000 people came. The first Golden Kitty, the festival's people's-choice award, went to Henri 2, Paw de Deux, the brooding French cat's second video. The festival went on to tour other cities and helped show that online cat culture could become a real-world event.

🎟️ CatCon, California

CatCon was founded in 2015 in Los Angeles as a pop-culture convention for cat lovers and has since been held at the Pasadena Convention Center. It features vendors, artists, panels, celebrity internet cats, and rescue and adoption groups. Dates vary from year to year, so check the organizers' announcements.