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People said it couldn’t be done. They said “Chet, you should reschedule, it’s going to rain really hard and everyone will get wet!”
I said, “Please don’t call me Chet. This ‘Chet Wedgely’ thing was meant to be a joke but now it’s catching on.” And then, showing uncommon courage, I refused to cancel the cat tour. As a result, 300 hearts were touched and the sun never stopped shining. That’s 10 times the number of people who attended last year’s Wedge neighborhood cat tour.
Attendees (the ones who kept count) reported seeing over 50 cats. Most cats were spotted at windows — but others were seen on porches, rooftops, in strollers, on leashes, or scampering through yards. A man at 28th and Dupont emerged from an apartment building holding a cat and wearing a giant cat head. As one Reddit user put it, “does anyone else think this is kinda fuckin weird?”
At times traffic was backed up by pedestrian crossings. The crowd was so large, and had such an effect on car traffic, that someone called the police. The Facebook comments got lively on a Minneapolis police scanner group (a man wearing a camouflage jacket in his profile picture menacingly suggested people on the tour were nothing but “speed bumps”). No arrests were made — the person responsible for the cat tour remains at large.
This year was completely different from previous years. Instead of one relatively compact group, it was a long procession over many blocks. Sometimes I couldn’t see where the tour started or where it ended. So many great and weird things happened that I only found out about afterwards through Twitter and Facebook posts.
Thanks to all who participated, especially the Wedge residents who showed us their cats.
[Credit to Reddit user Spooge McDuck for the featured image at the top of this story.]
Officially licensed Cats of the Wedge merchandise from the Wedge LIVE! store:
Cops pulled up and asked about the route the tour was taking pic.twitter.com/7wLxuti9xh
— Alex Schatz (@alexmschatz) June 28, 2019
Great shot of today’s cat tour. (Thanks to Reddit user SpoogeMcDuck)https://t.co/6ZC7MBQ2Ym pic.twitter.com/UeMGt8mlnU
— Wedge LIVE!™ (@WedgeLIVE) June 28, 2019
I don’t want to prejudice the results of the sign contest, but I have received some early entries and this one will be tough to beat. pic.twitter.com/FF2ra6KmkP
— Wedge LIVE!™ (@WedgeLIVE) June 24, 2019
On a casual window cat tour with 400 of my neighbors & closet friends #CatsOfTheWedge pic.twitter.com/pEUU2jYsmR
— Meredith Leigh Wathne (@MeredithWathne) June 27, 2019
The #CatsoftheWedge tour is my favorite thing. Love seeing everyone’s pics/videos. Stay weird Minneapolis.
— kyle matteson (@solace) June 28, 2019
Had a blast on the @WedgeLIVE Cat Tour 2019! Unfortunately this nugget didn’t make it off the couch to attend.#CatsOfTheWedge pic.twitter.com/q47ELiKHH2
— Eric Ahasic (@ahasicwx) June 28, 2019
Pics from the cat tour @WedgeLIVE #CatsOfTheWedge pic.twitter.com/mfTtTqPp9Q
— anton (@anton612) June 28, 2019
We got a livetweet thread. https://t.co/5Aiw4QFtTE
— Wedge LIVE!™ (@WedgeLIVE) June 28, 2019
This #captionfail is too good. I’ll be there, wearing only a good pair of walking shoes pic.twitter.com/w6eLWoFiZX
— Matt B (@MattMpls) June 27, 2019
#CatTour 2019 has taken to the streets! Sorry, cars pic.twitter.com/NtKdgpa1P4
— Greg Pikitis (@gina_reis) June 27, 2019
Shots from the @WedgeLIVE Cat Tour 2019 pic.twitter.com/nuidwWHALI
— incorrigible mozart stan (@TrevorWoggon) June 28, 2019
I had no idea the cat tour had cats in strollers. Had to see it on Facebook. #catsofthewedgehttps://t.co/3QKDhkcACY pic.twitter.com/rNg0c6neOu
— Wedge LIVE!™ (@WedgeLIVE) June 28, 2019
It was a perfect night for a #CatsOfTheWedge tour. Loved the cats (duh!), but damn were the houses beautiful! Thanks @WedgeLIVE pic.twitter.com/KAUTHTTl1r
— Karin Aebersold (@Aeberration) June 28, 2019
Wheel of Fortune Cat, Patriotic Cat (or Evita Cat), and Kitty Cat. #WedgeLive #CatTour pic.twitter.com/n3cCKEwV3c
— Marion Greene (@MarionGreene) June 28, 2019
Lurking Cat, Hammocks Cats, TouchMe Cat, and someone in town from New Orleans just for the #CatsOfTheWedge! (I just got educated on the proper hashtag, so pls read the thread.) pic.twitter.com/rSjGuEcEC8
— Marion Greene (@MarionGreene) June 28, 2019
Tina was quite popular at tonight’s @WedgeLIVE #CatsOfTheWedge Tour pic.twitter.com/xAx1xqA3Rf
— Kody Olson (@olsondakota) June 28, 2019
Reverse cat tour pic lol pic.twitter.com/HRiVJOsUCj
— Hermano Evolution (@HermanoEvoluti1) June 28, 2019
I met my new personal hero at the @WedgeLIVE Cat Tour this evening pic.twitter.com/W8VjrW3IZF
— B. Erin Cole (@berincole) June 28, 2019
#CatsOfTheWedge is perhaps the strangest thing I participate in every year but also one of the most amazing, I’m not the kind of person to talk about “energy” but it has an amazing energy, thanks to Chet of @WedgeLIVE for bringing us together for this magical evening pic.twitter.com/gJoKIqwT7f
— Peter Bajurny 🔰🐈 (@fishmanpet) June 28, 2019
Surreptitiously, the #CatsOfTheWedge tour is about missing middle housing mixed in with some single-family detached Victorians replete with a continuous sidewalk network and urban forest canopy along right-sized, low-speed streets and good habitat for cats https://t.co/6jfunOiYR1
— Tom Wald (@tomwald) June 28, 2019
Y’all stole the show. pic.twitter.com/ICICSylg2d
— Liz* (@ElizabethSW) June 28, 2019
