Bringing together cat lovers to celebrate cats and cat culture while raising money for cat rescues!

#YEGCatFest donates 100% of proceeds to local rescues.

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About Cat Fest

The Edmonton International Cat Festival is the only festival of its kind in Alberta, and was the first festival of its kind in Canada when it began in 2014. Cat Fest brings together cat lovers to celebrate cats and cat culture, while raising money and awareness for cat rescues!

Since 2014, the festival has raised $146,000 for local rescues.

Each year, the in-person event brings out up to 3,000 cat loving attendees!

Our 10-year anniversary event takes place on Caturday May 25, 2024 at MacEwan Robbins Health Learning Centre located in Downtown Edmonton at 10910 104 Ave.
Our Mission

We want to put on an a-meowzing event that brings together cat lovers from all over, to celebrate cats, cat culture, and raise money and awareness to support organizations that help cats in need.

$146,000 Donated

We are proud to donate 100% of our proceeds to local rescue organizations, helping cats in need! Since 2014, the festival has donated $146,000 to Edmonton area rescues including the Edmonton Humane Society, Little Cats Lost, SAFE Team Rescue, Zoe’s Animal Rescue, Community Cats Edmonton, Furget Me Not Animal Rescue & more!

Supported Charities

There are meown-y cat rescues in the Edmonton area doing a-meowzing work helping cats in need. Each year we select a combination of Edmonton cat rescues to donate to. Check our Latest News to see amoewncements about which rescues are receiving donations.

Cat Fest donates 100% proceeds to cat rescues!

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Meet the Cat Festival Team!

Edmonton Cat Festival Linda Hoang

Linda Hoang

Linda Hoang (she/her) is the Founder of the Edmonton International Cat Festival. She is the proud pawrent to three cats (Thor, Loki and Nitty) and two dogs (gasp—Olive and Artie) and their human sibling Benjimin. When she’s not celebrating cats and planning the Cat Festival, she’s blogging about food, travel and lifestyle topics, finding Instagrammable Walls (cat ones are the best ones!), helping clients big and small on social media strategies, social media content, and she also watches a fair bit of TV.  

Edmonton Cat Festival Shereen Zink

Shereen Zink

Shereen (she/her) is a communications professional and all-around animal lover with an extra soft spot for rescue cats. Formerly a cat foster with Zoe’s Animal Rescue, Shereen “foster failed” and adopted Peanut Butter, a sweet but sassy street cat.

Amanda McCloy Edmonton Cat Festival

Amanda McCloy

Amanda McCloy CFP®, CLU®, TEP (she/her) has two passions in life, financial planning and cats! Back in 2018 part of her feedback during her annual review was she talked about cats too much. At home her and Christian Grey (another Zoe’s foster fail) love nothing more than when all those clients feel comfortable showing their “crazy cat” love by regularly sending pictures of their cats.

Samantha Callaghan Edmonton Cat Festival

Samantha Callaghan

Samantha (she/her) has been a cat lover her whole life and would have at least two more cats if she had the space. She works as an administrative and human resources professional when she isn’t watching cat videos on TikTok and has a cat named Waffles, a snuggly yet chatty rescue cat.

James Harley

James Harley

James (they/them) is excited about all-things cats and jigsaw puzzles, and even more excited about jigsaw puzzles of cats. They love a good murder mystery and aspire to have as much confidence as their cat.

Lisa Huynh

Lisa Huynh

Lisa (she/her) has two cats Jack and Loki, whom she attempted to create an Instagram page for. Her dream is to open up a cat cafe and retire by a beach. When Lisa isn’t taking care of kitties she takes care of people as a Respiratory Therapist.

Frequently Asked Questions

100% of net proceeds from ticket sales and additional donations go to support cat rescue organizations. This is a completely not-for-profit event. Since 2014, $146,000 has been raised for the Edmonton Humane Society, Little Cats Lost, Zoe’s Animal Rescue, SAFE Team Rescue, GEARS Animal Rescue, A Pet’s Pantry, Community Cats Edmonton Furget Me Not Animal Rescue, and more!

The Edmonton International Cat Festival (#YEGCatFest) is the only event of its kind in Alberta and was the very first event of its kind in Canada when it first started in 2014. This unique, all-ages festival brings together cat lovers and celebrates cats, cat culture, and cat people, while raising money to help cat rescues. It’s like part cat show, cat/pet expo, cat adoption event, cat conference and party—all for a great cause!

At the cat festival, you will find adoptable cats, local cats, celebrity cats, cat-themed presentations from cat experts and enthusiasts, cat videos, cat board games, cat crafts, many CATivities, cat-themed vendors selling everything from cat jewelry to cat clothes, cat art to cat furniture, and SO MEOWCH MORE! The Edmonton Cat Festival is an all ages, family-friendly event that has something for all cat lovers! Each year we also bring in a famous, celebrity cat for meet & greets! 

In 2016 and 2018, we flew in the most famous cat on Instagram, Nala Cat, and her famous sister Luna, who did meet and greets with hundreds of festival attendees! In 2015, we flew in celebrity cat Pudge! In 2019 we brought Suki the Adventure Cat and Great Grams of Gary!

From 2020-22, the Cat Festival went virtual due to the pandemic, attracting hundreds of cat-loving purrticipants virtually from around the world.

In 2023, we held a ‘Cat Fest Week’ with a number of smaller cat-themed events that still brought out hundreds of cat lovers and raised $15,000 for rescues!

In 2024, the Edmonton Cat Festival returns to MacEwan Robbins Health Learning Centre in Downtown Edmonton for our BIG 10-YEAR ANNIVERSARY EVENT! 

Check out Gallery of Past Events

Yes, attendees are welcome to bring their cats to the festival as long as their cats are leashed, or in a carrier / kennel / stroller / cat backpack, at all times, and as long as the cat would be comfortable in large, busy, loud and crowded settings. Most cats would prefer to stay at home, but if your cat goes on adventures with you, and is comfortable outside your home, we’d love if you brought your cat to the festival!

If you don’t, that’s no problem, there will be LOTS of cats and kittens at the event for you to see, cuddle, hold and possibly adopt!

Yes, there are adoptable cats at the Edmonton International Cat Festival, it just depends on which rescue booth you’re visiting.

If you’re planning on adding a new member to your family, finding a cat/kitten, or learning more about cat/kittens that need homes, the Edmonton Cat Festival is a great place to meet a lot of different local rescue organizations and learn about the adoptable cats in their care that need fur-ever homes.

Remember, adopting a cat is a life-long commitment! You are bringing a furry friend into your family so please be sure that you can commit to caring for and keeping your cat for the duration of their lifetime. 

Because it’s so meow-ch fun! What other opportunity do you get to come together with up to 3,000 passionate cat lovers! More importantly, your attendance means you are supporting a great cause. 100% of net proceeds from ticket sales, additional donations and sponsorships go to support cat rescues and the important work they do helping cats in need! 

You definitely should go to this festival because there is no other Edmonton/Alberta-event where you can be surrounded by likeminded, cat-loving people and experience as much cat-themed activities in one single spot!

The Edmonton International Cat Festival was the first cat festival of its kind in Canada when it began in 2014. Today it’s the only event of its kind in Alberta—bringing together up to 3,000 cat lovers celebrating cats, cat culture and cat people. It combines elements from cat-themed events that currently exist: cat adoption events, cat video/film festivals cat or pet trade shows, educational conferences, and just a general cat pawty / festival.  Our event brings it all together for one unFURgettable experience for cat lovers of all ages and all for an imPURRtant ause—supporting local cat rescues helping cats in need! 

The Edmonton International Cat Festival began in 2014 as an extremely grassroots initiative.

Today, the event is still put together by a very small volunteer board (and a big group of day-of volunteers!)

Cat Festival Committee

  • Linda Hoang 
  • Shereen Zink
  • Amanda McCloy
  • Samanthan Callaghan
  • James Harley
  • Lisa Huynh

Next to no money is spent on paid advertisements or marketing, and the team tries to keep very low overhead costs. Our biggest expenses are venue and celebrity cat guest. We try to put on the best festival we can, as economically as we can, so we can donate the most money possible to cat rescues helping cats in need! Promotions are earned (through traditional media) or put out, with awareness raised and shared through social media. Despite being around since 2014 we still consider ourselves a pretty grassroots and scrappy organization 🙂 

We also rely heavily on sponsorships and donations to help ensure we’re able to give the most money back to these important organizations.

If you’re interested in sponsoring the event, please email [email protected].

If you’re interested in being a volunteer at the Edmonton Cat Festival, please email [email protected]

The Edmonton International Cat Festival started in 2014 as the only event of its kind in Canada. It takes in late May/early June, kicking off the summer festival season in Edmonton, Alberta’s capital city. Cat lovers from across Canada descend onto the city for Cat Fest! Our goal is to celebrate cats with cat lovers, and raise money to help cats in need. Each year, the event gets bigger and better.

We aspire to have the Edmonton International Cat Festival become a destination—a must-attend event—for cat lovers every where—attracting not only local attendees and vendors, but international audiences as well.

Currently the Cat Festival brings out attendees who travel from across Canada—we know of attendees who have come from B.C., Saskatchewan and even Ontario! 

During our first virtual Cat Festivals from 2020-2022 we saw hundreds of attendees from over 77 cities around the world! 

We are proud that our event helps put Edmonton on the international map as a destination for cat lovers!

The festival would not be possible without vendors or sponsors! If you are interested in being a vendor or a sponsor for the Edmonton International Cat Festival OR you run a local non-profit organization for cats and would like to have a booth at the festival, please contact [email protected].

Note: You do not need to based in Edmonton to be a Cat Festival vendor or sponsor!

However, please note space is limited and we do give priority to local vendors.

Learn more about how to get involved  

If you are interested in covering the Edmonton International Cat Festival for your news organization, please do not hesitate to contact Linda, Founder and Cats Meow, at [email protected] to arrange for interviews!

Follow us on Twitter, Like us on Facebook, Follow us on Instagram!

See Cat Fest in the Media 

The adorable Edmonton International Cat Festival logo was designed by Jeff from Sonder Creative & Chithra.

Sonder Creative also created our website! 

book mockup

Cats of Edmonton

The city’s feistiest felines

Take home a hard cover, full-colour, coffee table photo book that takes you into the homes of over 100+ of the city’s a-meowzing cats! All proceeds go to support Cat Fest.

buy a copy

 

Have a question for us?

Have a question about the Edmonton International cat Festival that you dont see answered above?
Please contact us at [email protected] or fill out the form below.

GET INVOLVED

We couldn’t celebrate cats, cat culture and cat people, while raising money for cat rescues, without support from sponsors!

Become a Festival Sponsor

GET INVOLVED

Cat people LOVE to buy cat products. Become an official Cat Festival vendor and sell your ameowzing products to cat lovers!

Become a Festival Vendor

Land Acknowledgement

The Edmonton International Cat Festival is run by a board of volunteers who live on Treaty 6 Territory and within the Michif / Métis homelands and Métis Nation of Alberta Region 4. As cat-loving settlers who live, work, and play on these lands, it’s important for us to acknowledge this land as the traditional territories of many First Nations such as the Nehiyaw, Dene, Nakota Sioux, Anishinabae and Niitsitapi. We encourage you to visit Native-Land.ca and learn more about the traditional lands you live on.

Diversity Statement

As a festival founded by an Asian woman and run by volunteers of different backgrounds, abilities, sexualities, and identities, we know that society is better with more diversity and inclusion. We do not tolerate or condone hate speech of any kind and want to ensure that the Edmonton International Cat Festival is a safe and inclusive event for all.