IRC History

History of the International Ragdoll Congress

The History of the International Ragdoll Congress began at a Ragdoll Congress in Chicago in 1996.  At this Congress Lorna Wallace of the British Ragdoll Club, Charley Myers and RFCI President Wain Pearce got to talking about putting on a real International Ragdoll Congress (IRC).  During 1997 it was decided that the 1st International Ragdoll Congress would be held in Secaucus New Jersey on April 3-5, 1998.  To say the 1st IRC was a success would be an understatement, there were 109 Ragdolls entered in the Show.  That record for most Ragdolls in a show would stand until 2008 when the 6th IRC would have 129 Ragdolls entered in the show.  In 2010 the International Ragdoll Congress was held in a CFA and there were 80 Ragdolls in the show.

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The International Ragdoll Congress has been held in the following cities:
1998——–Secaucus, New Jersey———TICA
2000——–Las Vegas, Nevada———–TICA
2002——–Denver, Colorado————TICA
2004——–Ruesselsheim, Germany——-TICA
2006——–Sacramento, California——–TICA
2008——–Chicago, Illinois————-TICA
2010——–Denver, Colorado————CFA
2012——–York, Pennsylvania———–TICA2014——–Somerset New Jersey———CFA
2016——–Portland Oregon————-TICA

2012——–Lancaster, Pennsylvania will be the site of the next International Ragdoll Congress.

Early on decisions were made concerning the IRC, that an International Ragdoll Committee would be formed which would be responsible for setting the location and finding a Cat Club in that area to work with.   The IRC would be a non-partisan Congress and that all Ragdoll breeders and clubs would be invited to participate.  Ragdoll clubs from around the world have given tremendous cooperation & support to putting on these Congresses.  The Committee has always tried to make these Congresses as much fun and as enjoyable as possible.

While the original format has remained basically the same, each Congress has always had something that was unique and different than the others.  What was unique about the 7th IRC, well Denny Dayton the God-Father of the Ragdoll breed attended his first IRC and Ragdoll breeders from around the world were able to finally meet the man who with his wife Laura gave birth to the Ragdoll breed as we know it today.  The basic format has been to hold the Congress over 3 days, which would allow us to have time to hold a Breed Seminar and an Educational Seminar in conjunction with the cat show.  Our goal is to educate the Ragdoll breeders in both the Ragdoll standard and in good cattery management.  We like to have a Meet & Greet party on Thursday evening to give the people an opportunity to say hello to old friends and to meet and make new friends.

2010 was the First International Ragdoll Congress ever held in CFA.  We had to make some adjustments to the basic format but everything worked out very well.