Our first Meow
Meow Mania Volunteers 2024. Teri, Kate, Kirstie, Sabrina, Kelsey and Jaylen
It started in the Spring of 2024, while I was perusing my socials for a few days I started seeing all these events coming up for dogs, pop ups, markets, etc. And as a dog-less crazy cat lady I decided to take to my social media and ask the people where all the cat events are in the city, because I never really see anything happening that’s marketed towards cat people.
That prompted some people to encourage ME to organize something, unfortunately I just didn’t have the time or resources to scale something like that with a full time job and a part time photography hustle, it was really just an idea at the time.
A local rescue saw my IG story (Grateful Friends Animal Rescue) and thought this would be a great event, they asked if they could run with the idea to create a cat centric market and adoption event, I told them to go for it as I had no plans to organize something myself.
A short while later, I gave notice at my job and decided I was going to take my part time photography hustle full time, and the rescue was going through a change in directors, so this event was offered to me to take over. Let me preface this by saying I had no experience in event management/organization, but I know I thrive with challenges, so I said yes! Thanks to GFAR the name “Meow Mania” and the event date/location was already set, and applications were turned in from vendors. I just made a small date change, expanded the rental space, then proceeded to have a logo designed, IG created, and used my experience as a vendor at previous events to figure things out from there. I found volunteers, made some t-shirts for us, put together a silent auction, and doubled down on my advertising and communication to ensure it was a successful event, after all, I only had 3 months to put it all together!
I booked both sides of Deer Lodge Community Centre as I thought it would be a good idea to separate the cats rescues from the hustle and bustle of the market. I was expecting…actually I was HOPING for about 300 people to come. This was my first event and I kept my expectations low even though I put a lot of time and money into trying to ensure its success. We even made it to TV on CBC! They ran a special on the event and I was featured as a photographer and all our local feline celebrities got an interview! You can check it out on youtube here! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWk7JmgRCkc
So fast forward to the day of the event, you can imagine my surprise when people started lining up for the event an hour early, rushed through the doors so fast they didn’t even get their kitty swag bags graciously donated by Global Pet Foods on Grant Ave, and the rescue room was packed for hours, people were shoulder to shoulder! We felt like sardines in a can most of the day.
We had just over 1000 people come out to the event. It was an amazing success for all my vendors and we even had several successful adoptions! It’s safe to say that people loved it, and wanted more.
So I’m very excited to already be planning an event for the Spring, and a larger expo in the Fall. The cat people really came together for this one! I really appreciate all the visitors that came out and participated in this event, the rescues, vendors, my celebrities and of course my volunteers, I couldn’t have pulled it off without you all.
We now have a dedicated website, and with expansion into bigger venues I’ll have more vendors, more rescues, activities, a photo booth and some food! And I’ve already expanded the Meow Mania team with a Sponsorship Coordinator, Sonia, from PD Agency.
I’m looking forward to everything to come for Meow Mania’s future! Officially Winnipeg’s largest (and probably only?!) feline centric market and adoption fair.
I’ll see you in the spring!