The city of Ft. Payne announces Pete the Cat Day from 9 am to noon on August 1st. The event honors author/illustrator James Dean, who hails from Fort Payne, and will take place at the Coal & Iron Building at 500 Gault Ave. Children may enjoy face painting, free art activities, story time, dance time, and Pete the Cat himself. Dean will be at the event to sign autographs.
Pete the Cat Day is an annual event that began in August 2018. Dean, who has illustrated over eighty Pete the Cat books, also painted the signature mural on the Old Sawyer building at Gault Avenue North and 4th Street. In nearby Pete the Cat’s Alley, one may see several murals as well as the feline’s “Walk of Fame” star.
Dean, who hails from Ft. Payne, adopted Pete, a little kitten, from a local shelter in 1999. Sketching the cat blue and having him do “cat things” like sitting in a laundry basket and hanging on a screen door eventually evolved into stories. In 2008, Dean partnered with Eric Litwin to create the first Pete the Cat children’s book, Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes. The stories featuring the blue cat with the big head have sold millions of copies and have been translated into languages worldwide.
