The Walker Art Center truly did go to the cats, and the world meowed its approval.

On Thursday, Aug. 30, more than 10,000 folks turned up for the outdoor Internet Cat Video Festival at the museum’s Open Field area. Organizers had expected 2,500 to 3,000.

By Friday afternoon, the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, the Huffington Post, Slate.com, Buzzfeed and Mashable had all contributed articles to the viral purrs going around the Internet.

And those stories were shared hundreds of times on Facebook and Twitter.

“Internet cat video stories galore today,” wrote technology journalist and former New York Times “Bits” blogger Verne Kopytoff. “Bigger than Pinterest + Instagram. Insert cat pun here.”

Even the website of the venerable Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., wrote: “It is the dawn of a new era. … A reputable institution has accepted that ridiculous cat videos may count as art.”

The Walker had said it wanted to find out if the solo act of watching Internet videos could become a live social event. It certainly did.

The turnout exceeded the Walker’s expectations “in every single way,” said Rachel Joyce, assistant director of public relations.

Viewers filled the hillside seating area and spilled behind the screen into the Sculpture Garden.

And the audience itself exceeded expectations, Joyce said.

“They laughed in unison; they awww’d in unison,” she said. “At times, it was so quiet you could hear a yarn ball drop.”

She said the crowd was a mix of ages, men and women, and most people arrived in groups.

Some came with their cats, which were welcome. There were cats in carriers, but “lots of owners just carried their cats throughout the night, like they really wanted their cats to soak it all in,” Joyce said.

One person was even spotted wheeling her feline friends around in a double stroller.

On Friday, that original Internet-to-real-life theory came full circle in the form of a wildly approving crowd on social media.

Singer-actress Mandy Moore tweeted, “This literally made my day. Genius!”

“Bravo!” chimed in Dr. Marty Booker, the veterinarian seen frequently on “Good Morning America.”

The hourlong program of videos was chosen by Walker program assistant Katie Hill from more than 10,000 submissions.

William Brandon, creator of “Henri 2, Paw de Deux,” about an angst-ridden French-speaking feline, took home the event’s Golden Kitty award, chosen by online voters. The video will air on Animal Planet’s “My Cat From Hell” at 7 p.m. Sept. 8.

Henri, the star of the video, was gaining lots of fans Friday. Joanne Manaster, a biology lecturer at the University of Illinois, called him “brilliant” on Twitter; BBC News presenter Alex Lovell proclaimed the cat “very funny.”

So will the event that drew 10,000 video submissions and 10,000 spectators return to the Land of 10,000 Lakes?

“We haven’t even talked about it yet,” Joyce said Friday. “We’re just in shock.”

Kathy Berdan contributed to this report. Amy Carlson Gustafson can be reached at 651-228-5561. Follow her at twitter.com/ amygustafson.

WATCH THE VIDEOS

You can watch cat videos from the event at youtube.com/playlist?list=PLC0B137D835A3C970.