Lawrenceville to follow in Brighton Height’s paw prints with cat crawl this weekend

In August, Brighton Heights was the destination for Pittsburgh’s first cat crawl. This Saturday, the concept comes to Lawrenceville. 

A cat crawl or cat walk is a simple concept: Cat lovers get together and walk around a neighborhood, stopping at designated homes to see their feline residents. 

The Brighton Heights Cat Crawl saw 450 attendees and raised $7,700 for Save Our Strays and the Pittsburgh Paw Project, said Heather Costello, who organized the event with her neighbor, Carlin Christy. 

“We just did [the cat walk] because we felt it in our hearts,” Costello said. “We did not expect 450 people. We were so happy and overjoyed that that many people attended. It was so just inspiring to see how calm, relaxed, fun and happy all the people were coming together.”

Ross Greenburg, communications and membership manager of Lawrenceville Together, said he is hoping for a similar turnout on Saturday. 

The Lawrenceville Cat Crawl kicks off at Iron City Boulders, a rock-climbing gym at 153 51st St., where participants will gather from 11 a.m. to noon, with coffee by Love Bird Coffee, a mobile coffee cart. 

The event is free, but attendees are encouraged to make a $5 donation that will benefit Conquer the Colony, a nonprofit that focuses on fostering and spay/neuter efforts of stray cats in Pittsburgh. Conquer the Colony will bring a handful of adoptable cats to Iron City Boulders, including Banshee, a gray kitten who is often featured on the organization's Instagram page. The Pittsburgh Paw Project, which fundraises for independent cat rescues and fosters, will also have a table at the climbing gym, where cat items such as handmade catnip toys will be on sale. 

Crawlers will depart as a group at noon and follow a 1.5-2 mile walking route from Upper to Lower Lawrenceville, stopping at 14 houses, which will have one to as many as six cat residents. 

Cats along the route include orange tabby Buck; long-haired roommates Mortdella, a tortoiseshell, and Speck, a brown tabby; and white, short-haired Sugar. Greenburg said he’s most looking forward to Okie, who shares a similar name to his dog, Okja. 

Greenburg said he received over 50 applications from residents seeking to have their cats featured along the route after putting out the call on Lawrenceville Together’s Instagram page. Costello said a lot of the cats for the Brighton Heights crawl — which included hers and Christy’s cats — came through word of mouth at neighborhood porch parties and getting the message around to neighbors. Both Costello and Greenburg said where the cats were located — and their proximity to one another — played a big part in determining in which ones made the cut so the respective routes flowed logically.  

Cats will mostly be in windows for crawlers to admire from the sidewalk. Greenburg said that some owners may bring their cat outside to say hello, depending on the comfort level of the cat and owner. 

If the Brighton Heights example is anything to go by, there’s also the possibility that participants will bring along their own cats. Costello said that some people brought their cats in special backpacks or strollers. 

Three of the stops along the route are local businesses — Lawrenceville Pet Supply, where participants can receive samples of cat food from event sponsor Weruva. Ivy’s Ice Cream and Kinship Gifts are also along the route. Ellie the calico will also be at Ivy’s to meet the crawlers. The crawl ends at Black Cat Tattoos, where cat-themed flash tattoos will be offered. 

Greenburg said he wanted to be sure to include local businesses to show off the neighborhood’s offerings as well as some of its cat residents. 

“We’re excited for folk [who] live in the neighborhood to get out and explore a bit, or if they’re new to Lawrenceville who haven’t gotten the chance to walk around, [they’ll] get to see our community, meet some neighbors and other cat lovers, and find something they love about the neighborhood to come back and support,” he said. 

Conquer the Colony co-founder and vice president Erin Hartman said she hopes the event can help bolster the organization’s visibility as well as find some potential adopters of the cats she plans on bringing along. 

“The last few years have been really hard for donations,” Hartman said. “To even get a little bit of donations, get our name out there, even for people to tag [us] on social media — that would be super successful for us.”

Hartman said those interested in adopting one of those cats can fill out an application afterward, mention where they met the cat and that they’d spoken to her. The handful of cats that will be at the crawl — which Hartman said will be a mix of cats with personalities that are suited to one another and these types of public events — are just a fraction of the adoptable cats in the nonprofit’s network of foster homes. 

Jena Simpson, co-founder and president of the Pittsburgh Paw Project, said she has similar hopes as Hartman. The nonprofit raises money through donations and sales of handmade organic cat toys, which can be purchased online. 

“Money is a huge focus for us because veterinary care, food and litter is expensive, especially in the recent economy,” Simpson said. “Then really [it’s] just to get the word out about cats in need and how bad the epidemic of stray cats is in the Pittsburgh area.”

The effort to raise funds for independent rescuers is worth it, Simpson said, “because we’re all passionate about helping cats.” 

Greenburg said he hopes the cat crawl will be a “super fun and silly community event.” 

Costello said she and Christy plan on attending Saturday. Costello knows one of the cats on the Lawrenceville route — a white and black cat named Juice — through her pet-sitting side business. The pair are already planning a second Brighton Heights edition for fall 2027 as well as other potential cat-related events. 

“This is a nice way to celebrate our cat companions,” Costello said. “Every neighborhood has a different vibe, so it will be really fun to have a unique experience in every different neighborhood.”

Greenburg also said that if this first edition in Lawrenceville goes well, he will organize a second one for next year. He also said he may look into putting together a similar dog-based event. 

Cattfeinated Cat Café in Greensburg is also organizing a cat crawl for the community in spring 2027 after postponing the event originally planned for early October.