There has been so much going on that I hadn’t had the chance to tell you about the always fun and exciting Catwood Festival we have every April here in Fayetteville, NC. This was my second time attending this wonderful event, but I was determined to keep a lower profile than last year when I ended up on stage with Joe Nichols.
By now, most people in town recognize me, so I spend a lot of time greeting my public and signing autographs. I thought if I had some friends with me, others wouldn’t be as inclined to interrupt me to say hello. I thought a fun time like this would be a great way to get to know my newest friends, Hattie and Mimsy. We arranged to meet at the BobFM table in Festival Park to start our day of fun and frivolity.
Hattie and Mimsy were right on time! I was struck by how beautiful they were – and very different from me!!! I almost forgot that Mimsy was blind -she trotted along so nicely next to Hattie. I pointed out the “Bob” logo and explained that my Dad worked for them.
Bob FM plays really cool music, so we stayed by the station vehicle for a little bit and danced to a few tunes. Mimsy was quite the dancer!
My human brother had driven us to the event and then gone off to meet up with some friends. As we headed out into the crowd, Mimsy tucked between Hattie and I, we came upon the happy group near the walkway of food! We posed for a picture then he headed out to see what fun we could get into!
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Mimsy was very good at picking up on smells and could tell us what food a vendor was selling before we had time to find the menu board. As we walked along pointing out the different food vendors to each other, we came upon a giant horse. Well, what else is one to do when one meets a giant horse, but climb on it!
There was plenty of room for all of us on the horse so we had fun sitting together way up high. We made clip clop noises and pretended we were riding in the middle of the festival goers. I bet it would be a great way to get through the sea of people easily. Everyone would get out of the way of a Giant Clydesdale!
After we had a nice long “ride” we headed back out into the crowd. Tristan had told us about a cranberry exhibit at the end of the food court – one of my favorite colors! I imagined a display of fabulous cranberry colored hats and scarves and boas and shoes. I was giddy with anticipation. Hattie told me she didn’t think it was that kind of exhibit, but rather an exhibit about the fruit. When I saw the giant bottle of cranberry juice towering high over the festival, I knew Hattie was right. Bummer.
There was a cool looking vat of water with cranberries floating in it sitting out for the public to touch. Evidently the cranberries grow in water. Since it was such a hot day, we thought we would feel the cranberries with our whole bodies rather than just our little paws. We helped Mimsy into the pool and she giggled when she felt the cranberries tapping against her legs. As Hattie and I settled in, we began to giggle also. The cranberries bumping into us felt funny. Soon the giggling turned in to outright laughter which turned in to guffaws… we were asked to get out of the cranberry vat. If you ever wondered how to get thrown out of a vat of cranberries, now you know…
As we gave ourselves a good shake to get all the excess water off of us, I noticed some rides like they have at a carnival down the street a while back. I asked the girls if they were up for a roller coaster ride and they were quick to say yes! Fortunately, I had Mom’s magic plastic card under my hat, so I was able to buy ride tickets for all of us.
Hattie and Mimsy had never been on a roller coaster before so we watched it a few minutes before they were steeled enough to give it a whirl. We bought our tickets and headed for the ride.
We were the only ones on it, so we each took our own car. Mimsy wanted to sit with her kitty butt on the floor and her hands on the seat. Seemed odd at the time, but once we were going I was wishing I had opted for that position too! As the rollercoaster picked up speed, I began to yowl. On the first dip down, both Hattie and I were yowling.
By the time we took the final big (to us anyway!) dip down we were all yowling. I was afraid Hattie and Mimsy hadn’t liked the ride, but as soon as our paws touched the pavement they were squealing “Again! Again!” We rode it a couple more times – until we ran out of tickets. I was disappointed that we hadn’t gone on the Ferris wheel – I like going high up into the air.
I decided that I really wanted to take my friends on the Ferris wheel, so we gave Mom’s magic plastic card another run through the card reader and bought more tickets. We headed to the Ferris wheel and helped Mimsy into her own car and then Hattie and I climbed aboard.
We rose high in the air then came rolling back down – wheeee! We’d wave to each other as we rolled up and down. We would call to Mimsy who would smile and wave. By the time the Ferris wheel stopped we had had enough of all the ups and downs of the rides and decided to stick to keeping our paws firmly planted on the ground. We headed back to Festival Park to see what was going on at the main stage.
It was still early and the opening act hadn’t even come on yet. We heard music coming from the stage. We walked toward the front, and the closer we came to the stage the more I was convinced that Everclear was playing!!!! As we arrived at the very front of the stage I could see that it definitely was them!!!! They were dressed very casually and were playing in a rather laid back fashion. They seemed to be testing the microphones and instruments. Lead singer Art Alexakis mentioned they were doing a sound check. Perhaps I could help, I thought.
I promised my family that I would keep a low profile this year. Mom had lectured to me that she did not want to see me on the stage performing with the headlining act during the main concert at night. Well, it was far from nighttime and they weren’t officially performing, so I rationalized that it would be okay if I jumped on stage and joined in on a song.
I lead Hattie and Mimsy up the backstage steps and we trotted out to the front of the stage next to Art. I called to him to play my favorite Everclear song “I Will Buy You a New Life.” Art smiled and patted me on the head and the band launched into it. I grabbed a microphone and started singing along. I would look back at Hattie and Mimsy from time to time and they were bopping along to the music – they seemed to be really enjoying it! Or so I thought!!! When I looked at the picture my brother took, I noticed that Mimsy seems to be covering her ears and Hattie looks less than pleased.
Being the good friends that they are, when I was finished they applauded wildly and complimented me on my singing abilities. Art thanked me for my lovely vocals and invited us back stage before the show. That sounded like fun, so we agreed to meet them backstage in and hour.
My Mom and brother already had backstage passes from Bob FM, so the whole group of us met up with the band and had our picture taken with them.
Art was kind enough to invite me to come up on stage later to sing a number or two, but I declined, opting to enjoy the concert in the crowd with my friends.
By the time the concert was over it was very late, and we happy to climb into my brother’s car for the ride home. None of us remembered the ride, and Tristan had to wake us up when we arrived at our house. Hattie and Mimsy were staying over , so we went inside and settled into our beds. While normally there would be junk food, cat movies and pillow fights, we were too tired for any of those things and drifted off to sleep immediately!
I can’t believe another Catwood Festival has come and gone. While it’s official name is still Dogwood Festival, I figure if enough people start calling it the Catwood Festival, that the name will have to be changed by popular demand…..hey, it could happen!
Have a great week and root for Animal Kingdom in the Preakness. It’s about time there was a new Triple Crown winner. Maybe this is the year!
Love & kitty kisses,
Josie
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