Every summertime for the previous 17 years, the streets of Catskill have actually been occupied by fiberglass cat statues embellished in a variety of special and vibrant styles. This public neighborhood art job has a name — Cat’n Around Catskill — and a function: It’s a charity event for the Heart of Catskill Association, a not-for-profit that arranges public shows in the town and town.
This year’s Cat’n Around Catskill is the most significant yet: 65 statues, up from 53 in 2015. The expensive felines were embellished by artists selected by Christie Hicks, Cat’n Around Catskill’s cat planner, who collects applications each year. She shares the proposed styles with regional businesses that can sponsor a cat for $500. The artists then receive $50 stipends to finish their cats. The ended up short articles go out for show and tell from Memorial Day to Labor Day, prior to being cost an annual auction.
This year’s auction will happen on Sept. 17 at Historic Catskill Point. Artists keep 30 percent of the profits; the rest fund regional tasks like a public gazebo in addition to nonprofits like animal rescue groups and those offering vacation provides to kids. This year, they likewise benefit another town organization, Cultivate Catskill, which is building a spray park.
“It’s great for the town to have those kinds of attractions,” Hicks said.
There are 2 various cat types for embellishing: one sitting, one standing. Hicks provides artists recommendations on props and products, which glues work finest, and so on. How to best bring the cats to Technicolor life has actually been a long procedure filled with discoveries.
“We have had stuff like texture — making it look like fur — and it didn’t stick,” Hicks said, remembering one stopped working style idea. “Things fall off. People break things. If a toddler can pull it off, it’s not appropriate for your cat.”
Regardless of products, all cats visit an autobody shop in Cairo for clear finishing prior to being positioned outside on the streets of Catskill. After Labor Day, the cats are cleaned up and gussied up prior to auction. Dents get repaired. Vandalism, Hicks kept in mind, is unusual.
The auction is what you’d anticipate: enjoyable, red wine, beer. Tickets are $25 however the bidding can get up there. A number of years back, one cat cost more than $7,000.
“It was a really detailed cat,” Hicks said. “It was called Starry Night.” That bead-encrusted Van Gogh-esque feline was an outlier — statues start at $500 and typical costs are more in the $1,200 variety. Last year, the auction raised $85,000. Hicks hopes this will be the year to break $100,000.
To view 2023’s pride of cats, there’s a helpful map of all 65 statues. Most are positioned in front of the businesses sponsoring them, most of which are on Main Street. Others are further afield. McDonald’s sponsors one on Route 9W. Another is at Wine Cellar out on W. Bridge Street.
Though the artists are complimentary to do whatever they desire with their styles, much of the cats associate with their sponsoring businesses. Village Pizza constantly gets a pizza cat, for instance. And in some cases creates inadvertently set perfectly with a sponsor, like the year Spike’s Record Rack wound up with an Elvis Presley-created cat with blue suede shoes — kismet.
Before Hicks ended up being a cat planner, she was an artist. This year, she produced 2 cats. One, finished with a friend, is themed for J&J Smokehouse BARBEQUE. “It’s a cat but it’s a chicken but it’s a barbecue smoker,” she said. It’s entitled Brawk-B-Q Chicken.
The other is for an Italian restaurant. “I am calling it On Top of Spaghkitty,” she said. “It’s a tabletop with a plate of spaghetti with a chef hat.”
While Hicks has 2 genuine cats, she doesn’t personally own a cat statue — they’re too costly, she said. But she is presently “babysitting” a Tiger Woods-themed statue for a friend in Florida.
What occurs with the cat statues after the auction? So numerous things. Some residents have gardens filled with previous years’ designs. One of Hicks’ pals has a couple of rental locations, each embellished with a Catskill cat. And not all the Catskill cats stay regional. Hick understands numerous that have actually retired to Tennessee and Colorado.
“We have 6,600 people following us on Facebook,” she kept in mind.
That the town of Catskill includes the word “cat” may lead you to believe this kind of auction of bedazzled fiberglass animal statues just occurs here. Alas.
“Lots of towns do them,” Hicks said, helpfully. “Saratoga has horses, Coxsackie does owls, Cairo has bears. Greenville has done ducks. Saugerties changes. They did butterflies. I think they’re back to horses this year.”
