Toronto's cat tour is going viral – take a look

If you were in Toronto in early September, you may have passed a herd of cat lovers parading the city's streets with signs and cat-themed clothing as they visited the friendliest felines in town.

The inaugural event, dubbed the Toronto Cat Tour, took place on September 8 and went viral on TikTok after participants posted footage on social media. The two-hour tour covered three miles, had about 100 hikers and featured 21 cats at 15 unique tour stops.

Natalie Czerwinski, founder of the Toronto Cat Tour, tells TODAY.com that even though she has a full-time job in digital marketing, her passion for animals – especially cats – drove her to start the event.

“If we split into groups, cat people or dog people, I’m a cat person,” Czerwinski shares. “When you’re walking down the streets and you come across a neighborhood cat or see a cat in a window, it’s a nice little treat.”

The idea of ​​doing the cat tour in Toronto first came to her after she saw Wedge LIVE, a news platform for the Lowry Hill East neighborhood in Minneapolis, hosting its seventh annual cat tour in Minneapolis on June 26.

“It didn't occur to me myself, but I thought, 'Why not bring this (to Toronto)?'” Czerwinski says.

Czerwinski began planning the tour and promoting it on Instagram in July, and created a Google Form for owners interested in registering their cats to participate in the event.

“I just shared a lot,” Czerwinski says. “I posted in neighborhood Facebook groups. I created posters that I think people also shared on their networks. So it was just a lot of organic sharing.”

When planning the route, Czerwinski used Google Maps to create walkable Cat Tour stops for participants. She also started the route near public transportation and spotted at least one toilet along the way.

“Before I actually led the tour, I did a walk-through of the tour, all by myself, to imagine, 'Okay, what would it look like if there was a big group of people behind me? Which streets will we cross?' there, specifically on the cross? Is there such a thing?

Czerwinski remembers the initial excitement and enthusiasm surrounding the tour when September 8th, the day of the event, finally arrived.

“People were really enthusiastic and really great,” she says. “Both the tour participants and the cat owners just seemed really happy and having a really nice time.”

Participants brought cat-themed signs, clothing, stickers and more for the tour, and some cat owners had small gifts for participants after they stopped by.

“There was a stop where the cat's name was Cupcake, and the owners made cupcakes for the tour goers, just really cute things like that,” Czerwinski explains.

Czerwinski remembers tour participants' excitement at meeting Gravy and Cheese, two cats that were promoted in a teaser post that Czerwinski shared on the tour's Instagram.

Looking back on the day, Czerwinski says the tour was a success, thanks largely to a handful of videos posted by participants showing tour highlights on social media.

The Toronto Cat Tour's Instagram had about 1,400 followers before the tour. Now, about a month after the event, the account has over 16,000 followers.

Czerwinski has been asked to repeat the event in cities like Vancouver, Calgary and Hamilton, but due to distance restrictions she has no plans to do so in the future. However, She helps those interested in organizing a tour in their region and encourages them to give it a try.

“I would like to express my encouragement to take the initiative to make things happen if they want to, because it can be done. It takes a bit of work, but it can be done,” Czerwinski explained.

Czerwinski currently has an open Google Form on Instagram for volunteers interested in participating in a possible future cat tour. She says it's “very likely” she'll organize another event in Toronto in 2025, but she doesn't want to commit in case life gets in the way.

One thing is for sure: there are enough cat lovers in Toronto to make this happen.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com