Profile: The Cat 'n' Around Cat Club of Des Moines, Iowa

by Andrea Dorn

Why do we do it? Why do we travel to towns we'll never really see, spend so much time and money on something that wears us out and earns us so little in return? Why do we sit and wait entire weekends for the call of a simple number?

We do it for our egos, the companionship and the time spent in the company of cats. But mostly we go to cat shows because it is fun. Yet beyond that, members of the Cat 'n' Around Cat Club enjoy being members of a progressive club that is developing a reputation in central Iowa for helping the cat fancy community in ways that go beyond the fun cat shows.

A little more than seven years ago, on May 15, 2002, a group of seven Central Iowans gathered at Paglia's Pizza in Ankeny to discuss the need for a new ACFA club. The result was the Cat 'n' Around Cat Club.

The Sponsor Board From the start our members worked together to make the club a success. We started by holding garage sales and raffles at other shows and enlisted sponsorships to raise money, enough money to put on our first show only five months later!

Since that first show we have successfully obtained between 14 and 32 sponsors each year, helping us to maintain our solvency even in times of national economic woes. One of the ways we encourage club members to find sponsors is by giving them reduced entry fees for each sponsor they recruit. We were among the first ACFA clubs to produce a spectator guide, and as an incentive to sponsors, we not only honor them in a display at the show, we include their ads in the spectator guide that we give to the 1500 spectators who typically attend our shows.
Our 2006 sponsor board
After our first two years of development we began an activism beyond ACFA that has become engraved in our club identity.  We're proud to be supporters of worthy causes in the cat fancy community and the larger community as well.
We consistently donate to local feline charities such as the Iowa State University Feral Cat Alliance to help fund TNR (Trap Neuter Return of feral cats) efforts in Central Iowa. We've also supported feline charities on the national level by donating $233 to Katrina relief efforts. Within ACFA, we've donated matching funds to help ACFA Central Office become financially stable and helped other clubs in our region stay solvent.

Through it all we've continued to be a democratic club, with five different members holding the office of President in our seven years. We maintain a good-sized club ranging in membership from those seven charter members to our present 16. We all pitch in to help with the club's activities, including passing the entry clerk responsibility from one club member to another.

Some club members in 2009
Club members assemble awards for the 2009 show.
Junior ACFA Ring We are also enthusiastic supporters of Junior ACFA. Here you can see six young competitors along with club member Theresa Buehler, who served as the Junior ACFA competition judge in 2006.

In spite of being a very young club, we've already hosted the Regional Banquet twice and are preparing to do so again this fall. We also continue to have fun at every show. Our themes have varied, too:

2002 - Feline Fall Fantasy
  
2003 - Cats of the Harvest Moon
  
2004 - Iowa State Fair (since our shows take place in the fairgrounds!)
This show celebrated the 150 years of the Iowa State Fair and, just as the fair has a cow carved out of butter, we displayed a cat carved from butter: The Butter Cat
2005 - Monster Magic
  
2006 - Casino Cats
The 2006 awards banquet was held in Prairie Meadows, our local casino/racetrack. Rosettes with chips and bills
2007 - Kat-tober Fest
  
2008 - Falling for Felines
  

This year along with holding the North Central Regional Banquet for a third time, we will be celebrating our 16th Back-to-Back show with the theme "Sweet 16 and Never Been Hissed." Join us in Des Moines on October 3rd and 4th - but please leave the hisses at home.

Regional Director's Corner
September, 2009

Dr. Glen Newton Dr. Glen Newton,
North Central Regional Director

Thanks to Andrea Dorn for producing the above newsletter!

The 2009-2010 show year is in full swing in the North Central region, with shows successfully presented by Cat Tales Cat Fanciers, Central Wisconsin Cat Club, Madison Cat Club, Coulee Region Cat Club, and Fox River Valley Cat Club. Congratulations to the clubs and thanks to exhibitors for supporting them!

As we enjoy the competition and camaraderie of cat shows, let's remember that in addition, each of our ACFA clubs has the potential to reach out to our communities. If we have funds in the club treasury, then like the Cat 'n' Around Cat Club, we can donate to worthy feline-related causes. But even with very little money, we can organize and participate in events that further the goal of ACFA:

"Our goal is to promote the welfare, education, knowledge and interest in all domesticated, purebred and non-purebred cats, to breeders, owners, exhibitors of cats and the general public."

I hope to see everyone at the North Central Regional Awards banquet, October 3 in Des Moines. Pictures from regional award winners are due to Sarah Walker or ncregional09@yahoo.com by September 15. Note that if your cat was a Top 20 IA winner, we already have its picture, and you don't need to send it again. Here are the details from the Regional Shows section of this web site:

If your Cat, Kitten, Alter, or Household Pet placed in the top 20 for the 2008-2009 show season, please mail or email a photo (jpeg) for us to use in a PowerPoint presentation to be shown at the awards banquet. We need the following from you:
1. A picture of your cat
2. Cat’s Registered Name
3. Your phone number
4. Your email address
5. Cat’s breeder(s)
6. Cat’s owner(s)
7. Regional Category & Placement
If you want your cat’s photo(s) returned, please send a self-addressed, stamped envelope with the photo(s).
Please mail your photos with the information listed above to: Sarah Walker, 1433 62nd St., Des Moines, IA 50311; or email them to ncregional09@yahoo.com. Email is preferred. Write information on separate paper, not on back of photos. Photo(s) MUST be received no later than September 15, 2009.
Email me at glennewton@comcast.net or call me at 651-688-9504. Click the date to see the Regional Director's Corner from January, July, or August 2009.

Click the date below to open a separate web browser window displaying older newsletters, edited by LeAnn Harner, in Adobe PDF format. Each edition is about 250KB in size.
March 2004 September 2004 April 2005 September 2005
March 2006 September 2006    
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Brochures
The Cat Show
So You Want to Show Your Cat
Junior ACFA Showmanship