Photo Credit (Pixabay)
Because of his imaginative and entertaining costumes, Horatio has amassed over 10,000 followers for the Centre County Library.
Saturdays are now referred to as “Caturdays” at the Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, Centre County Library. Manager of Bibliographic & Patron Services Lisa Shaffer aimed to increase the library’s online visibility and publicize its offerings in 2014. She used to take a picture of one of her cats curled up next to a book every Saturday and share it on the library’s Instagram account.
Lisa decided to highlight a book on Caturday because it was the author’s birthday that week. She wore a birthday hat on her ginger tabby, Horatio, for the picture. It surprised her that he seemed to like it. Lisa notes that “Horatio is very laid-back and he took wearing the hat in stride.” She created Horatio more hats a few weeks later, which he wore with delight.
Lisa wondered what would happen if she made the cats basic costumes and used some props for the pictures in the article. She began with a post that included cats dressed as Elizabethan ruffs around their necks with straws (later replaced with coffee filters) in honor of Shakespeare’s plays. People adored it. Lisa took it a step further, making felt clothing and wigs out of yarn.
She ensures that the cats feel at ease while posing. While Marmalade and Jojo, two of her five other cats, put up with donning the costumes, Horatio loves it. Lisa remarks, “It’s his special thing.” “He has such good looks. He’s simply a ham!
