SYRACUSE -- This past Saturday, August 7th was a great day for animals and people alike in central New York. The first ever CANINE CARNIVAL was held at the Wegman's Good Dog Park in Liverpool, and what a huge success it was. The CANINE CARNIVAL was developed as a fundraiser for the Priscilla Mahar Animal Welfare Foundation www.pmawf.org with the presenting sponsor being the great, communitiy minded folks at Wegmans. Our media sponsor was none other that CNYcentral TV (WSTM, WTVH and CW-6) and CNYcentral.com.
The gates opened at 10am sharp, and the parking lots were already overflowing. From 10am to 2pm, the time of the event, we had non-stop action from numerous dog obedience and agility demonstrations taking place in the demo ring to a continuous flow of people and dogs arriving via County Park tram from other parts of Longbranch Park. We had 15 paying business vendors of animal goods and services, 25 different rescue organizations showing off not only dogs and cats for adoption but lizards, iguanas and even a horse rescue organization. And what would a carnival be without food? Well, we had plenty of that also between a hot dog vendor, a Greek pita shop and an ice cream stand, not to mention the volunteer staff and celebrity dog walkers were treated to great Dinosaur Bar B Que food. Even the Syracuse CRUNCH Hockey Club had a booth, and one of thier players from two years ago stopped by to also take part in the celebrity walking event.
All tolled, the best guess is 2000 to 3000 people came to our first annual CANINE CARNIVAL and likely 500 or more dogs and cats. The bottom line is we raised several thousand dollars for the Priscilla Mahar Animal Welfare Foundation www.pmawf.org, which we will turn right around and distribute to a variety of other animal welfare organizations in the near future. On another uplifting note, nearly every one of the dogs and cats that were up for adoption had found a new home by the conclusion of the event. Great news!
Mark your calendars for Saturday August 6th, 2011. Whether you are an animal lover, a rescue organization, someone in the animal business, from Veterinarian to pet photographer, or maybe even a food vendor, you won't want to miss all the action next August. IF you are indeed someone interested in booth space (FREE for rescue organizations) or business or food vendors, we'd like to hear from you. Please write me at www.pmawf.org.
Thanks to everyone involved!
Please check back here at CNYcentral.com in a day or two for several photos that were taken of the first CANINE CARNIVAL this past Saturday.
Did you go to the CANINE CARNIVAL? What breed of dog do you have and why do you like that breed?
Did you see other folks with your same breed of dog? Was there a rescue organization for your dog breed?
HERE are a few links you may find of interest:
http://www.cnyspca.org/
www.humaneassociationcny.1hwy.com/
