On August 1st, 2015, my family and I attended the second annual Internet Cat Video Festival in Oklahoma City.
Everyone I have told that to has asked the same exact question: “Why?” My response has been, “Why does anybody do anything?” To be honest I don’t have the answer to either of those questions — it’s more of a diversionary tactic. Trust me, the entire time you’re sitting in a public park watching internet cat videos, you’ll be asking yourself “Why am I here?” the entire time as well.
If you’re asking yourself “What kind of person shows up for an Internet Cat Video Festival,” let me show you this picture I took:
That’s approximately 2,500 people sitting on the Great Lawn next to the Devon Tower, sitting around waiting for cat videos to start.
But to answer your question, all kinds of people attended. There were little kids and senior citizens. There were people wearing regular clothes, lots of people wearing t-shirts with cats on them, and a few people that went all with painted whiskers and cat tails. And then there was the lady wearing a black bra with cat faces on the front walking her dog on a leash, which puts her in a pretty unique spot on the Venn Diagram of internet cat fans:
The pre-show started at 7:30pm, ran for 90 minutes, and included live bands, food trucks, face painting, and hula-hooping. During this time people staked their land claims with blankets and lawn chairs.
At 9pm the flood lights were turned off, the big screen began to glow, and the cat videos began to play.
The video, created by the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, contains approximately 75 minutes worth of funny cat videos. If you’ve ever watched America’s Funniest Home Videos or typed “funny cat videos” in YouTube, you have probably seen some subset of these videos. The video has been shown in fifteen cities in all, including Minneapolis, Oakland, Chicago, New York City and San Francisco. The festival typically teams up with local animal shelters and charities in each city, and the Oklahoma Central Humane Society made an appearance at ours.
Why would 2,500 people show up to a park in downtown Oklahoma City to watch cat videos that they could watch at home (or not at all)?
Why does anybody do anything?
