CFA Annual Meeting – Orlando 2025
July 17, 2025
Wish Upon a Star
Susan Cook Henry
Our dreams came true in Orlando as CFA’s Southern Region hosted this year’s annual meeting and awards banquet. Annual chair Karen Lane and her assistant, Hope Gonano, assembled a capable team of volunteers who helped make this one of the most memorable annual meetings ever. It was all about teamwork, in Karen’s estimation: “As chairman, my responsibility was finding the right dedicated people for the tasks at hand, then getting out of their way so they could do the work. The ‘getting out of your committees’ way’ was always the hardest job for me: knowing when to give direction and knowing when to let go … and letting the good ideas, the talents of our people, and the problem-solving happen. I’ve been lucky enough to be involved in CFA long enough to see and appreciate the talented people we have.” Karen was able to “tap the best talent from a large and diverse region, willing to roll up their sleeves” to get the job done.
Hope relates, “I was asked to be treasurer of the Annual in August 2024. When I asked who the fundraising chair was, I was told that would be me, too! We brought in close to $45,000, but I think in retrospect it could have been more.” She continues, “Come January, I was asked to be co-chair of hospitality, and with my years of entertaining experience, I accepted with a great deal of confidence.” Hope, her husband Eddie, and Karen met in April at the Rosen Plaza to measure vendor spaces and check out the incredible venue for hospitality, and the magic continued. “Anything I’ve ever done in life I have given a great deal of attention … And that is what you need to put an event like this together: many helping hands with passion for excellence!” concludes Hope.
The Rosen Plaza was the perfect location for this annual given its proximity to several famous theme parks. Even if you remained in the hotel for the entire event, you were not disappointed by the hotel’s spacious event locations, comfortable rooms, the variety of food and beverage choices within, and a lovely pool area where many attendees soaked up the sun before the usual afternoon thunderstorms. But back to business: Delegate check-in went smoothly, and the cooler-style delegate bags were a hit! Linda Peterson expertly coordinated donations by reaching out to all CFA clubs for a variety of useful items, which included enough cash for each delegate to receive an envelope containing a $20 bill! In addition to check-in, trophies and rosettes for the national and breed winners were available for pickup in a well-organized manner, which avoided the usual chaos when done after the awards banquet. A variety of vendors were on hand in the foyer area Thursday and Friday, with plenty of wares to choose from.
Thursday afternoon and evening events were well-attended, including an EveryCat Health seminar, Breeder Education, and of course the Judges’ Workshop. Friday morning’s delegate meeting opened with Rich Mastin’s welcome, and a quorum was declared when all delegates present successfully logged in with their clickers for voting. Things went quickly through the day’s agenda, while Chai Wuttivorrvattana and Peter Vanwonterghem worked the “Kidz for Katz” table at the back of the room, with new card offerings to raise funds for the rescue and care of feline victims of the war in Ukraine. The afternoon hours of the meeting brought both excitement and nerves as service awards were made for judges and clerks, CFA Stars introduced, and director-at-large election results were revealed. The agenda had few amendments and resolutions, so the meeting ended on schedule by 5pm. Now, it was on to the much-anticipated hospitality part of the night!
The second-floor suites got things started with celebrations of CFA’s Cat and Kitten of the Year. Both were well attended, and between the Hawaiian theme (Mai Tais, cookies, and dancing) for COTY and the sumptuous appetizers and Blue Lagoon cocktails for KOTY, everyone got hopping early! At 7pm, it was off to the lobby and the hotel’s amazing “Room 39” for the Southern Region’s incredible hospitality event and costume contest: Anyone who missed that festive location should have major regrets, as it was one for the ages. The venue was private for CFA, and even the undercover outdoor pool patio was ours to use. There was a photo booth where lots of antics with fun props were taking place; generous and tasty appetizers were passed frequently by the serving staff; the bar worked quickly to fill the guests’ orders; the DJ kept everyone on their toes on the dance floor. Meanwhile, the many TV screens throughout the venue and on the pool deck ran a continuous loop of previous “On the Road Again” slideshows, thanks to Cheryl Coleman’s efforts – What a blast from the past that was! Many laughs and some tears for so many familiar faces and cats we cannot forget. The 9pm costume contest was a huge highlight, and winners were picked from several Disney categories, with a “Best of the Best” competition awarding top honors to Captain Jack Sparrow and his wench, a.k.a. Rich Mastin and wife Lisa. They really had us fooled for a while, as did other characters from “101 Dalmatians,” “Beauty and the Beast,” and “Star Wars.” Kudos to all who participated and kept us very entertained!
Saturday morning’s usual activities were breed council meetings, and board meetings with the International Division representatives as well as breed council secretaries. The latter was chaired by Annette Wilson, who introduced Marilee Griswold and Orca Starbuck whose outlines of potential requirements for a CFA “Breeder of Excellence” program were unveiled. And approaching the noon hour, decorations for that evening’s awards banquet were well underway.
Beth Feininger and Teresa Voigt and their team were ready to wow us all with their attention to detail. After months of planning, ordering, receiving, creating, storing, packing, and MOVING it all from Atlanta to Orlando in a big box truck … it was finally time to pull it all together. And we were not disappointed! The banquet room with its 40 tables was nothing short of spectacular. The centerpieces were magnificent, with white cats from 3-D printers raising a paw to reach for a star … straight from Teresa Keiger’s logo design. The premium tables had premium centerpieces for sure, with the cats popping out from inverted top hats full of plumed feathers. It took from mid-morning until 5pm to complete each detail. The oohs and aahs were audible from the entering crowd when the banquet doors opened.
The placement of the popular table favors from celebratory winners took a twist this year, as they were put into 395 bags on seven tables set up for that purpose. At last year’s banquet in Coralville, IA, the tables were covered with so many favors that the servers found it nearly impossible to place the salads before dinner. Susan Henry suggested to Allene Tartaglia that maybe it was time to come up with a different plan, and so it went. The new procedure was noted in emails to the winners and promoted on CFA’s Official Discussion page on Facebook, and Susan’s team showed up at noon to open the bags for the wave of favors sure to come … and they did just that – earlier rather than later! More volunteers showed up to help, and the process went very smoothly. The team then carried the bags into the banquet room and placed them on top of the awards booklets, doing “quality control” along the way to ensure each seat was properly set. This successful project may set the standard for future awards banquets.
The foyer outside the banquet room provided the usual amazing fashion show, as guests lined up for cocktails and camaraderie. Larry Johnson’s camera kept very busy as people lined up in their finery to capture a special memory of this event. Moving along to dinner, salads and dessert were preset on the magnificent tables, and the ambience of the banquet hall was nothing short of spectacular. The service staff was very efficient when serving the dinners, presented on hot plates – something we rarely see at our annual events! The delicious entrées were given a big “thumbs up” by the guests, another thing not often expected. Coffee and tea came soon enough, and then on to the collection of photos of fellow breeders and exhibitors who are no longer with us: it was a tough year for loss in CFA. Cheryl Coleman’s dedication to “OTRA” and the familiar Willie Nelson intro never disappoints, with many memories from more than a year ago still fresh in our minds.
The highlight of the evening was the presentation of the breed and national winners. Capably organized by Allene Tartaglia and Shelly Borawski, with “cat herding” by Mike Altschul, anxious winners lined up at the back of the room for their turn to walk up the ramp to the stage while gazing at the photos of their kittens and cats. Indeed, the entire world was represented quite colorfully as we celebrated winners from Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, China, Japan, Europe, the Middle East, and the United States. Richard Katris (Chanan) was there for his 40th consecutive CFA annual to capture such special moments on stage – quite a milestone!
Sunday morning, the tides ebbed as many guests began to check out of the Rosen Plaza and stand in line for that last cup of java before beginning their journeys home. The newly-elected directors at large were seated with the full board – at their Sunday morning meeting. And so ends another CFA Annual meeting: definitely one for the record books, and a tough act to follow. Thank you, CFA Southern Region, for allowing us all to “Wish Upon a Star!”