If you follow my blogs, you may have noticed I talk about cats … a lot. Well, this is going to be another one of those posts, so get ready! A few weekends ago, my girlfriend, Brena, and I went to an event that checked many boxes for us: bingo hosted by local drag queens at Philadelphia cat café Get a Gato!

Brena and I arrived at 11 a.m. on a Sunday along with a good turnout of other cat and drag enthusiasts. Get a Gato is a true café with a cat lounge in the back, so I got myself a mocha latte, and Brena got a churro. There were two queens hosting: Elizabeth New Jersey and Xiomara Villa. They both had great energy and kept us all laughing. Our group was in the cafè section at first with Xiomara, and then halfway through we switched to go into the cat lounge section with Elizabeth, allowing everyone time with the cats.

There were around six rounds of bingo and also raffles to enter … of course, we had to buy some raffle tickets. The prize for bingo was a free session in the cat lounge, and there were some cat-related goodies raffled off. Tragically, neither Brena nor I won bingo or a raffle, but we had fun nonetheless.

After our rounds of bingo, the queens each did a little lip sync performance for us (to “Kitty Girl” and “Hustle That Cat,” both by RuPaul, of course). They were so talented, and we loved watching them make the most of the limited space they had to entertain us (and in Elizabeth New Jersey’s case, while avoiding stepping on cats with ultra-high heels!)

When we weren’t losing at bingo, we had some time to pet the cats; in order as pictured below are Inspector Chex, Scout, Werewolf of London and Certified Lover Boy! All cats in the café are adoptable, but in the time since I’ve been there and am writing this, all of them have been adopted. The café has no trouble getting cats out the door, as it’s such an inviting and welcoming environment to potentially meet your future furry best friend. I am always so tempted to take home a cat myself!

— Hannah Gruen, advertising & events coordinator