Cat fanciers might have to wait until December to indulge their feline passions. Then again, they might have to wait even longer.
The Platinum Coast Cat Fanciers has canceled its annual July show at Harborside Event Center because of the economy, said club president Charlene Campbell. The club hopes to reschedule the event for December, but if that does not work it will have to wait until 2010.
“This year I’m a little nervous,” she said. “We want to make it an affordable outing for the whole family … but this is not the time to raise our prices to cover our costs.”
Platinum Coast lost $2,000 on last year’s show, Campbell said. It scaled back the event from two days to one in an attempt to save money, yet it still ended up in the red.
After toying with the idea of raising admission prices this year from $5 to about $8, as well as searching but failing to find other funding sources, the club decided to call the whole thing off in hopes of holding the show during the holidays.
Yet, the club might not be able to do that, according to rules from the Cat Fanciers governing body.
“You can’t have a show within 400 miles of each other. We’re going to see if we can get permission to put the show on,” Campbell said.
As a consolation, of sorts, Platinum Coast plans on holding a “well cat care clinic” in the coming weeks. It will serve in some of the same capacities as the show, offering education, animal care, spay and neuter services, and adoptions.
Campbell said the show will return next year, as she is predicting the economy will have rebounded by then.
“Our membership is hurting like the public is, but we brainstormed and asked ourselves, ‘Can we offer something to the public?'” she said. “We decided we still wanted to educate the public on animal care.”
The club is looking for sponsors for the December show, or next year’s show. Potential sponsors do not have to be cat or pet related, the club is just looking for help, Campbell said.
Interested sponsors can contact Campbell at 772-5399.