Leaving the Wild by Gavin Ehringer

Author:Gavin Ehringer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pegasus Books
Published: 2017-03-14T04:00:00+00:00

FOURTEEN

FANCY CATS

Time spent with cats is never wasted.

—French author Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette

Denver County Fair’s motto is “fairly weird.” It’s an apt description. The fair is less Ringling Brothers and more Cirque du Soleil, but an unpolished Cirque du Soleil with a cheesy, hipster vibe.

Created in 2011 by entrepreneurs Tracy Weil and Dana Cain, it’s an urban take on the traditional county fair. The pair recognized a need for an alternative to the annual livestock show and rodeo, something hipper and more germane to Denver County’s youthful and entirely urban populace.

To that end, the fair features attractions you’re not likely to find elsewhere, such as the “Geek Pavilion,” a celebration of fifty years of Star Trek, and the “X-Treme Breakfast,” where you have the option of topping your pancakes with grasshoppers. While there’s a traditional farm-to-table area showcasing the produce of local farmers, for a year the fair also hosted a controversial “grow-to-doper” Pot Pavilion, showcasing the wares of area marijuana growers. That’s since been dropped for an even more popular Craft Beer Pavilion (Coloradans like their weed, but they like their beer even better).

An up-and-comer among Denver’s plethora of summer events, the fair draws close to 25,000 visitors over a three-day weekend. Its promoters hoped to up those numbers in 2016 with the appearance of a celebrity guest: Venus the two-faced cat. Venus is one of the most famous Internet cats in the world. In 2012, she became an honest-to-goodness overnight sensation when her picture went from zero to 1.2 million views within twenty-four hours of going online.

What’s so unusual about Venus? Half of her face is jet black with an amber eye, while the other half is traditional tabby with a blue eye. She’s a chimera cat. And had she been alive in ancient Egypt, it’s a good bet she would have been revered as the living goddess Bastet herself.

I first became aware of the cat not on the Internet, but through one of the fair’s delightful art posters plastered all over town. At first, I thought the two-faced cat drawing was a product of some artist’s fruitful imagination. But no, I soon learned: Venus is the real deal, and she was coming to the Denver County Fair. This I had to see.

So in late July, I arrived at the Denver County Fair dressed not in my typical fair attire of boots and a cowboy hat, but instead in walking shorts, flip flops, and a surf logo t-shirt. True to the fair’s motto, the first thing I encountered was a children’s unicorn ride. The mythical, rainbow colored unicorns topped with tots were being led by college-aged princesses resplendent in taffeta gowns and tattoos.

Consulting my schedule, I learned that I had already missed the Miss Denver County Fair Drag Queen Pageant (darn!), but that the Rocky Mountain Rollergirls would be bashing and trash-talking later in the day (bonus!). Venus was slated to take the stage in the Kitten Pavilion at one P.M. sharp.

I texted my friends, got them aboard for the

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