The Official Cat of Salem!

Every year, Salem has an Official Cat of Salem contest. Last year, we entered Mabel in the cat Halloween costume contest, where she was judged the third runner up. After that disappointing placement, we knew that this year we would skip the costume and hope for Maxwell to bring home an award in the Official Cat contest.

Mabel as Hester Prynne from The Scarlet Letter last year

Avonlea Jane ready to go cheer for Maxwell

Our handsome contestant as he arrives at the Common

Avonlea Jane serving as Maxwell's pageant coach

Gearing up for competition

We're at the lectern in the bandstand explaining why Maxwell should be named the Official Cat of Salem. We explained that he was born and raised in Salem, where his life had an adventurous start; we adopted him at four weeks old after he was rescued from a hawk attack. He also has no qualms with interacting with the paparazzi and is quite photogenic after his stint as a calendar model.

We made sure to bring our calendar featuring Maxwell to show off to the judges.

One of Maxwell's head shots (taken by Brett Steiner)

Awaiting the results, sure that Maxwell is a shoo-in

And the winner is: Maxwell!

Accepting his prizes and certificate

Maxwell fielding interview questions from the local papers

We are so proud of our beautiful puss! (Though when he arrived home, Mabel made it clear that while he may hold a title, she is the official cat of the household.)

For a black cat, there could be no higher honor than being the Official Cat of Salem, Massachusetts.