Hundreds of people are expected to be in Victoria’s Fernwood neighbourhood on Saturday for an urban safari of the feline variety.
Stylized cat stop signs have sprouted in the neighbourhood in recent weeks to advertise the Fernwood Cat Walk, a 7.5-kilometre ramble through the neighbourhood that involves stopping by 21 different homes where cat owners have agreed to put their animals on display. (It’s unclear whether the cats, which are notoriously independent, have agreed to the arrangement.)
Organizers have already received more RSVPs than the number of maps they have printed for the two-hour event.
“There’s quite a buzz about it,” said Alex Whitman, one of the cat walk organizers.
Whitman said she knew the event had taken on a life of its own when her hairdresser brought up the event unprompted during a recent haircut.
Lisa Karoway, another organizer, said the idea of the cat walk is simple: “We’ve got a map for folks and different houses to walk by and they can essentially look through the window and see the cats as they wander through the neighbourhood.”
The idea for the cat walk began about eight months ago when Jessica Girard posted on the local neighbourhood cat page on Facebook — which has 2,700 members — about a cat walk that had been successfully hosted somewhere in the U.S., Karoway said.
Karoway said she’s not sure if Fernwood has a higher per capita cat rate than other neighbourhoods in Victoria, but she isn’t surprised that residents have pulled together to make their own version here.
“I think it’s the community spirit of Fernwood. Even though it’s connected to a large city, it’s got that kind of small community feel,” she said.
Half a dozen strangers began meeting in the Fernwood Inn last August to plan for the event, slowly gathering sponsorships from local businesses and city funding.
Karoway, who lives in a residence that doesn’t allow cats, said the event is a great way for cat lovers who may not have one at home to make new feline connections in their neighbourhood. “But of course, with cats being cats, you’ll never know who you may see. You might see one, you might see all of them.”
It’s also a good way to meet other people in the neighbourhood who also like cats, she said.
Whitman said the fact Fernwood had a local neighbourhood cat forum was one of the things that drew her family to settle in the neighbourhood when they moved back to Canada from Denver, Colorado, about two years ago.
She’s excited to show off her two shelter-adopted cats on a “catio” — cat patio — that will be temporarily relocated onto their driveway for the cat walk.
Cici, who has a grey-and-white coat, is mischievous and likes to hide under the bed and bite the toes of unwary passersby, while Luke, an orange tabby, is a bit uptight and needs to take a dose of Prozac every night, she said.
But they have added lots of life and fun into their household, Whitman said. “Cats are great because they acclimate into the house — probably because they think everything is theirs — and they get comfortable very quickly.”
On Saturday, maps and brochures will be available at Little Fernwood Gallery at 1921 Fernwood Rd. starting at 1:30 p.m.
A large group will set off at 2 p.m. for the two-hour tour, which will include trivia and some prizes. The afterparty at the Fernwood Inn starts at 4 p.m. A self-guided option is also available.
Attendees are advised to leave their cats at home, in case some of the neighbourhood cats are startled.
>>> To comment on this article, write a letter to the editor: [email protected]
