By Maegan Worthen    

To celebrate the fifth birthday of the Humane Society of Utah’s Kitty City, the Humane Society held a birthday bash following the inauguration of the first mayor of Kitty City, Kiki. 

Kitty City was originally established in August 2012 after a large donation was made by Ronald and Darlene Boyce. Kitty City has helped over 23,000 cats and has raised cat adoption rates more than 50 percent since its opening. 

This was their first year doing an election for mayor of Kitty City. The cats that are chosen to run for mayor are the longest-term residents. The brains behind the operation, Lindsay Garrahan, said, “It’s a fun way to bring attention to the cats, and the shelter.” She also added that thanks to the Boyce family, “it gives the cats a homier place to stay.”

Executive Director for the Humane Society of Utah Gene Baierschimdt, opened the ceremony by giving a speech about how the Humane Society was started and its mission. Before the inauguration, Baierschimdt stated that, “the Humane Society of Utah staff and volunteers are so proud of all the cats in Kitty City,” and that, “they take pride in caring for each one,” and making sure everybody understood that, “our mayoral candidates are just a small selection of the thousands of amazing cats that reside in Kitty City every year.”

JoAnn Seghini, mayor of Midvale, came to the Humane Society of Utah to inaugurate the new mayor of Kitty City and give a speech. She mentioned, “The ‘kitizens’ of Kitty City have been requesting a leader for quite some time.” She gave her opinion on how, “felines are very thoughtful, and quite diplomatic.” After her speech, she announced the results. Second runner- up, Cricket. First runner-up, Sweet Pea. Then she proclaimed Kiki as mayor.

Murray City Councilman Blair Camp said, “Kiki is going to be the ‘purrrr-fect’ mayor.” He also exclaimed his appreciation for the shelter saying, “All jokes about kitties aside, they do a really great service here, not just for cats, but for dogs as well as any other animal.” 

Murray City Councilman Jim Brass also showed up to the event to show his support. He talked about how he “loves having the Humane Society here,” and that his only problem is, “he wants to adopt everybody.”  

After the inauguration of the new mayor guest celebrated with cake and festivities. They had Alt 101.9 FM there with radio personality Lindsay Armstrong covering the event on their station.