Sweet Tart McKee, a Norwegian Forest cat and the former Mayor of Omena from 2018 – 2021, died on Christmas Eve. She was the fifth Mayor of Omena, the first feline after four dogs, and the first to become an international sensation. Following her election, she received emails and letters from around the world, and appeared on websites in many countries, with the news of her election translated into quite a few languages. She was even talked about on the Anderson Cooper 360 show, along with her Vice Mayor, Punkin Anderson-Harder. She was 14 ½ years old.
Still a tiny kitten, Sweet Tart was found by Kanda and Harold McKee on Sweetest Day in October, 2009, when they were walking on the TART Trail near Hansen’s Plaza. Hence the name Sweet Tart. They heard a mewing sound, and then spent a couple of hours getting her to leave the shelter of hiding place in the bushes. Without thinking about the double entendre at the time, the name served her well in her political career in cherry country.
Sweet Tart began her rise to power when she secured the newly created position of Second Vice Mayor in 2015, and became First Vice Mayor later that year when Mayor Polly Loveless, a Golden Retriever, died and First Vice Mayor Parker Joyce, also a Golden Retriever, acceded to Mayor. She ran again in 2021 and was elected Second Vice Mayor.
