A weekend for owners and their pets
The second annual Pet-APalooza festival in Calgary is a free fundraiser event that runs July 23 and 24 at Eau Claire. About 20,000 visitors showed up last year, some 90 per cent with their dogs. “Calgary is bananas for its dogs,” says Lonnie Powell, co-founder and organizer of the event that also runs in Victoria and Vancouver. “It’s probably one of my biggest festivals now.”
WHAT TO EXPECT
Dozens of exhibitors ranging from animal rescue organizations to veterinarians and retailers of the latest and greatest in pet food and products will be on hand. The event includes everything from caricature artists to separate races for dachshunds and French and English bulldogs. There will be food trucks and a rescue-me fashion show to show off pooches up for adoption. Fetching Fido, a mobile dog salon business, is among new exhibitors this year and offering paw-dicures for donations which go to the Pet Access League Society (PALS).
IS YOUR DOG PRIMED FOR PET-A-PALOOZA?
Visiting dogs must be good in crowds, well-socialized with people and dogs and remain on a leash. Veterinarians will be on site and water stations will ensure dogs are hydrated.
WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT
All funds raised go to the JLA (Just Love Animals) Society. One of its latest initiatives is a Special Victims Unit for dogs deemed not fit for adoption. They find homes for the dogs or offer them permanent sanctuary on a B.C. acreage. Last year, Pet-A-Palooza festivals and fundraising events in Vancouver, Victoria and Calgary raised about $130,000, which went back to JLA Society. The plan is to take the festival to California next year and the ultimate goal is to “create an army” of petloving people who can lobby government for changes on the animal welfare front.
“They humble you and they ground you. It’s the most genuine relationship you can ever have. I couldn’t imagine life without them,” Pet-A-Palooza co-founder Jordan Illingworth says of the benefits of canine companionship. “We want to be able to do what we can do make a difference.”