{"id":352173,"date":"2026-06-08T21:58:36","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T21:58:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/352173\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T21:58:36","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T21:58:36","slug":"sacramento-hosts-its-first-cat-tour-inspired-by-social-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/352173\/","title":{"rendered":"Sacramento hosts its first \u2018cat tour\u2019 inspired by social media"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s a popular internet meme that reads, \u201cThe best thing about being alive is that sometimes there\u2019s a cat,\u201d usually written over a photo of a cat.<\/p>\n

A new event in Sacramento intends to replicate that feeling by bringing people to the cats.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, NorCal Resist<\/a>, a community activist group, hosted its first NorCal Resist Cat Tour around Sacramento. Attendees walked and drove around to different parts of Sacramento County to visit sites where volunteers offered visitors the chance to meet their feline friends or observe them from a window. Then visitors could go on to the next site as if trick-or-treating for cats instead of candy. Many of the sites offered merchandise for sale or freebies such as water, cat toys or even clothes.<\/p>\n

\"Christina Christina Nord holds up her cat DCI Hastings to greet visitors during the NorCal Resist Cat Tour in Sacramento on Sunday, June 7, 2026. HANNAH RUHOFF hruhoff@sacbee.com \"Colten Colten Vanderpool\u2019s cat Ollie sits in a stroller during the NorCal Resist Cat Tour in Sacramento on Sunday, June 7, 2026. HANNAH RUHOFF hruhoff@sacbee.com <\/p>\n

The idea for the cat tour was inspired by a similar event<\/a> in Minneapolis that spurred a national media frenzy in 2024, according to Jackie Va, a NorCal Resist volunteer who pitched the event. Va says a video of the Minneapolis event and a cat sticker handed out at a NorCal Resist event led her to create a Sacramento version.<\/p>\n

\u201cI brought it to NorCal Resist and said, \u2018We need to do this,\u2019\u201d Va said. \u201cSo I\u2019ve been organizing this event since December.\u201d<\/p>\n

Known more for organizing around political issues, hosting protests and offering mutual aid rather than cat tours, NorCal Resist volunteer Autumn Gonzales said the event is a way to get more people involved in the organization.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that as an organization we like to help build community, and we want to create mutual aid networks,\u201d Gonzales said. \u201cSo finding an event where people can meet their neighbors, do something fun and low-key, and also learn about our programs is kind of a win-win for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Gillian Gillian Newman and Lourdes Morales pet Smino the cat during the NorCal Resist Cat Tour in Sacramento on Sunday, June 7, 2026. HANNAH RUHOFF hruhoff@sacbee.com \"Cats Cats Lieutenant Dan and Smino get petted during the NorCal Resist Cat Tour in Sacramento on Sunday, June 7, 2026. HANNAH RUHOFF hruhoff@sacbee.com <\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s event featured over 20 sites across the region where visitors could see more than 60 cats in all. To attend, visitors followed a link from NorCal Resist\u2019s flyer to fill out a Google form and offer an optional donation of a few dollars. Visitors were then sent a map of the locations.<\/p>\n

According to Va, about 1,000 people filled out the form to get the map.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was there at the tour site number one, and it was a steady flow of like 10 or 15 people every hour,\u201d Va said.<\/p>\n

At a stop on 18th Street in midtown Sacramento, Ari Culbertson sat with his cat Winnie in a big playpen as he offered free water and donated clothing to passers-by. His other two cats, Ursa and Baby, watched from inside as visitors waved cat toys through the window. By 10:30 a.m., about 50 people had stopped by to see the cats, according to Culbertson.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love cats and I love my cats a lot. So it\u2019s really nice to be able to interact with the community and introduce them to our cats,\u201d Culbertson said. \u201cThey\u2019re always in the window and people are always walking by and saying hi to them. So it\u2019s an excuse to say hi to our neighbors and meet them face to face.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Winnie Winnie the cat greets guests stopping by during the NorCal Resist Cat Tour in Sacramento on Sunday, June 7, 2026. HANNAH RUHOFF hruhoff@sacbee.com \"Cats Cats Ursa and Baby watch a toy from the window of a house on 18th Street during the NorCal Resist Cat Tour in Sacramento on Sunday, June 7, 2026. HANNAH RUHOFF hruhoff@sacbee.com <\/p>\n

Friends Olivia Herider and Brittany Henry, who were walking around to the different sites, said they also enjoyed the community aspect of the tour.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was just thinking, if I was ever down here and I needed help, I\u2019ll remember this house was in the cat tour and a like-minded person lives inside,\u201d Henry said, \u201cI think we should do every animal, fill in the blank, tour.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Olivia Olivia Herider and Brittany Henry look up at a cat in a window during the NorCal Resist Cat Tour in Sacramento on Sunday, June 7, 2026. HANNAH RUHOFF hruhoff@sacbee.com \"Torrey Torrey the cat looks down from the window of a house on 19th Street during the NorCal Resist Cat Tour in Sacramento on Sunday, June 7, 2026. HANNAH RUHOFF hruhoff@sacbee.com <\/p>\n

Organizers Va and Gonzales said the tour will not only serve as a fundraising opportunity for NorCal Resist, but also as a way to get more people to think about adopting an animal that needs a home.<\/p>\n

At the last stop on the tour, Sacramento County\u2019s Bradshaw Animal Shelter, a poster for the cat tour featuring some of the shelter\u2019s longest feline residents hung on the wall outside the door. According to volunteers, all the cats on the poster had been adopted by the time the tour was over.<\/p>\n

The foster program coordinator for the shelter, Rhea Stites, said it was hard to know whether the tour directly led to those adoptions, but that any positive event around the shelter helps adoptions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a stigma around shelters,\u201d Stites said. \u201cPeople think they\u2019re sad, but an event like this shows that it\u2019s not all sad.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Alex Alex Simphoukham smiles as visitors pet his cat Smino during the NorCal Resist Cat Tour in Sacramento on Sunday, June 7, 2026. HANNAH RUHOFF hruhoff@sacbee.com \"A A sign advertising the NorCal Resist Cat Tour is posted at a stop on the tour in Sacramento on Sunday, June 7, 2026. HANNAH RUHOFF hruhoff@sacbee.com \"Faith Faith Bennett holds her cat Fred during the NorCal Resist Cat Tour in Sacramento on Sunday, June 7, 2026. HANNAH RUHOFF hruhoff@sacbee.com \"Torrey Torrey the cat is held up in the window of a house on 19th Street during the NorCal Resist Cat Tour in Sacramento on Sunday, June 7, 2026. HANNAH RUHOFF hruhoff@sacbee.com \"Winnie Winnie the cat looks up at guests stopping by during the NorCal Resist Cat Tour in Sacramento on Sunday, June 7, 2026. HANNAH RUHOFF hruhoff@sacbee.com \"Christina Christina Nord, Loretta Nord-Morris and their cat George greet visitors during the NorCal Resist Cat Tour in Sacramento on Sunday, June 7, 2026. HANNAH RUHOFF hruhoff@sacbee.com \"Cats Cats Lieutenant Dan and Smino get petted during the NorCal Resist Cat Tour in Sacramento on Sunday, June 7, 2026. HANNAH RUHOFF hruhoff@sacbee.com \"Colten Colten Vanderpool pets his cat Ollie as he pushes him around in a stroller during the NorCal Resist Cat Tour in Sacramento on Sunday, June 7, 2026. HANNAH RUHOFF hruhoff@sacbee.com \"Haley Haley Anthonisen reacts to meeting Smino the cat during the NorCal Resist Cat Tour in Sacramento on Sunday, June 7, 2026. HANNAH RUHOFF hruhoff@sacbee.com \"Shelley Shelley Bryant has her dog Barnabus do a trick during the NorCal Resist Cat Tour in Sacramento on Sunday, June 7, 2026. Bryant\u2019s cats had to stay inside during the tour so she brought Barnabus out to greet visitors. HANNAH RUHOFF hruhoff@sacbee.com <\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Hannah Ruhoff<\/a><\/p>\n

The Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n

Hannah Ruhoff is the assistant visuals editor at The Sacramento Bee. Previously, she was a visual journalist at another McClatchy property, the Sun Herald in Biloxi, Miss. She is an Ohio University alumna and native of Shaker Heights, Ohio.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There\u2019s a popular internet meme that reads, \u201cThe best thing about being alive is that sometimes there\u2019s a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":352174,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[121,123,122],"class_list":["post-352173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=352173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352173\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/352174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=352173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=352173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=352173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}