Photo caption: Neighborhood kitties visiting our deck: Lucas sitting patiently and Hot Wheels always eager whether being given treats or begging from the window. Photo Credit: Lisa Tussey Yoder
People line up to ascend a porch to pet the cat who lives there. Others take pictures of kitties hanging out in front windows with the cats’ names written in chalk below, and homemade signs with names of cats are staked out at the end of sidewalks leading to homes.
It’s the 7th annual Wedge Neighborhood Cat Tour in Minneapolis.
Originally, I intended to write about this because, well, cats mostly. As a cat lover myself (refer to the post about my cat getting stuck in a tree), I thought a neighborhood cat tour was a very cool community and connection idea. Then, I came across this quote from the founder of the event, John Edwards, and knew I had to know more.
"[I] want to take a moment to acknowledge what makes a day like today possible. And it’s not the cats. It’s all of you." (John Edwards as quoted in The Wedge Times-Picayune.”)
I dug further and learned that the event began because Edwards started taking pictures of the local cats. "I just invited a group of people to take a walk with me and it turned into this," John Edwards said. (“This neighborhood tour in Minneapolis is the cat's meow” KARE 11 news article.) The first walk in 2017 was just a dozen people or so.
That sounds like a Golden Connection Challenge to me, and it gets more interesting.
But first, a word about the cats of my neighborhood, particularly Lucas, Hot Wheels, and Ginger.
My cats jealously watching neighborhood cat Lucas sunbathing.
Neighborhood cat, Lucas, chilling on the deck.
I live in one of those sprawling suburban spaces with over 800 nearly identical homes and several community Facebook pages, including one for lost and found pets. See a happy dog streaking between houses, ears flying? Snap a pic, and ask whose dog got out and let them know the last known location. Visiting relatives let your kitty out? Post a picture and ask neighbors to be on the lookout.
We have several regular kitty visitors who we indulge with cat treats and the occasional cat nip. We know their names and owners because of interacting with the owners on the social media pages. One kitty travels so far and wide, he has his own Facebook Page, "Where's Ginger?"
We love being connected to our neighbors through their pets and will post pictures of the cats sunbathing on our deck for their owners to see what their kitties are up to, knowing the basic location of the rounds their felines make.
Back to the cats of Minneapolis.
Edwards posted the speech he gave to the large crowd for the well-organized 6th annual tour before releasing people to seek out the cats who were registered as part of the tour.
In the speech, he talks about the community layout that makes the tour possible – safe, walkable sidewalks and streets; mixes of housing structures; and having the type of neighborhood land-use planning where you can get to a place to eat with a 5-minute walk from your home.
He closes with a plea to communicate to elected officials the desire for physical spaces that encourage community and connection - not just with pets, but with people too.
This is a person who understands how the design of our communities creates or discourages social interaction and value.
Whether it’s stopping to pet the cats and dogs you encounter on your neighborhood walks or organizing a full-blown tour, connecting with neighbors through their pets is a great way to increase the social value of your community.
Check out a 30-second video report on the 7th annual tour.
Golden Connection Challenge:
Maybe you already have a walkable community where it's easy for people to gather - perhaps you could organize a pet tour - or just invite a neighbor to take a walk with you and see how many community pets you can spot.
If you don't live in a gathering-friendly community, what can you do to advocate for more walkable spaces? What kinds of city or town planning projects can you support that allow for more spaces that create social value for your community?
I’d love to hear about your experiences with a comment here or email me using the contact form.
Citations:
“Tonight’s 6th Annual Wedge LIVE Cat Tour” The Wedge Times-Picayune article, June 21, 2023, by John Edwards.
“This neighborhood tour in Minneapolis is the cat's meow” KARE 11 news article
What a wonderful way to bring your community together. As we all know, pets do wander around the neighborhood, so having a day/event where neighbors get to pair a pet with a parent can be helpful for the community.
Thank you, Kim. I do like knowing the names of our kitty visitors, and communicating with their owners by posting cute pictures of their visits is a nice.
What a heart warming and wonderful story about Neighborhood Cat Tour. It's so true, pets bring out the best of people and it is a great way to connect. Our town has a cat shelter where they hold a indoor yard sale every weekend for most of the year. The donations and support this shelter gets is amazing and people are always sharing photos of their adopted cats settling into their new home. Our cats and dogs always help to break the ice when talking to neighbors we may not know or strangers. Great lesson in compassion as well.
I love hearing about communities that connect! Thank you, Debbie.
Cute Kitties. Sounds like a great community for pet owners.
Love this post and the kitty pictures! I wanna go to Minneapolis the next time they do this – how fun! I live in a a nice little subdivision – it's not huge but big enough that I always encounter neighbors and their pets out walking… unfortunately, most of my neighbors are not friendly (it's kind of sad when a hi, good morning, etc. are met with silence!) so I don't think something like this would work.
I love that! How fun would it be to be in Minneapolis for the Cat Tour?
What a fun idea. Great for all age groups. And I'm impressed/amazed at how many people participated! It takes just one person to spark an interest and make things happen.
Any of us could do that!
What idea could you launch–for the good of your neighborhood–and beyond!
Thanks for sharing this, Lisa
Yes, Barbara, I love how it started out with one guy just taking pictures of cute neighborhood pets and then invited a view other people to “tour” the neighborhood with him.
What a fun and interesting neighborhood you live in. We also have a Facebook group where every day or so, someone posts pictures of "Does this (dog, cat, cow, goat, sheep, etc.) belong to anyone?"
It definitely makes for a fun way to meet your neighbors for sure. I will say, this is the first time I hear about a "kitty tour."