<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"Like something out of a cat-lover\u2019s dream, the second-annual OakCatVidFest celebrates all things feline. Equal parts film festival and street fair, the OakCatVidFest welcomed over 6,000 people on Saturday, with all proceeds from the event benefiting the Easy Bay SPCA. \nThe event, in its second year, took over a few blocks of downtown Oakland, California. Festival activities ranged from kittens for adoption, cat photography, cat toys and even a booth for celebrity cat meet and greets starring Lil Bub. \nSee also: The Scandalous Life of Cats, Exposed\nThe cat festival concept started at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The center hosts its own cat video festival every year and this year brought the festival to the Great Wall of Oakland \u2014  a huge wall on the side of a building where video art is projected on first Fridays of the month. \n\nThree kittens, up for adoption, sleep in a hammock at the OakCatVidFest in Oakland, California. Image:  Ann-Marie Alcantara/Mashable\u201CWe\u2019re also trying to let people know that Oakland is a fun place where interesting cool things happen,\u201D Issabella Shields, executive director of the Great Wall of Oakland, told Mashable. \u201CWe\u2019re trying to change the ad messaging of Oakland.\u201D \nSome of the \"Cativities,\" included an arts and crafts station that of course, focused on cats. On hand was also a cat mascot (pictured above), who greeted the crowd and gave out high-fives, and hula-hooped, every chance it could. And \"Kitty City\" was an area filled with cat toys, apparel, art and photography. \n\nA sign declaring an area Kitty City at the OakCatVidFest in Oakland, California. Image:  Ann-Marie Alcantara/MashableBands, food trucks, wineries and breweries, many of which were Oakland-based, were all in attendance. Festival participants showed their cat pride with ears, tattoos and clothing. \n\nAn um, interesting, shirt seen at #oakcatvidfest. pic.twitter.com/u1ZqSyurRe\n\u2014 Meowganizer (@Meowganizer) May 11, 2014\n\nThe event\u2019s biggest sponsor, Pet Food Express, was there to fundraise both money and supplies for kittens, like food and products \u2014 as well as to celebrate.\n\u201CThis is one of the few events for cat lovers,\u201D Mike Murray, director of community relations at Pet Food Express told Mashable. \u201CWe just wanted to be a part of it and collect donations rather than sell products.\u201D\nThree Internet-famous cats were present and made for a main attraction: Dusty, the Klepto Kitty, Ava Gardner the cat and everyone\u2019s favorite perma-kitten, Lil Bub. \nAll of the celebrity kitties were kept in an exclusive, enclosed tent \u2014 the line to meet Lil Bub was about 100-people deep at one point. We tried to see Lil Bub at the end of the day, but were told she was too tired (dare we say catatonic?) after a day among her legions of fans.\n\nwell hello there BUB! welcome to #oakcatvidfest! pic.twitter.com/MMsQsaTR2I\n\u2014 \u0279\u01DD\u0287\u0287\u0131\u028D\u0287 \u026Fo\u0279\u025F \u028E\u01DDl\u0250\u0265 (@haley) May 10, 2014\n\nWhile last year\u2019s festival focused around the videos themselves, this year\u2019s main goal was to recruit kitten foster parents and to raise money for the East Bay SPCA. Twelve shelters were on site, encouraging people to adopt kittens, but the festival stayed true to its roots and concluded with an hour-long showing of 40 juror-selected cat videos, a purrrfect way to end the event. (Yeah, we went there.)\nBONUS: Lil Bub and Tuna the Dog Meet for the First Time\n\nHave something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.\n      window._msla=window.loadScriptAsync||function(src,id){if(document.getElementById(id))return;var js=document.createElement('script');js.id=id;js.src=src;document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0].parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);};\n_msla(\"//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\",\"twitter_jssdk\");"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2014/05/12/oakland-cat-festival/>