The 11th annual Doggie Street Festival San Diego, an animal adopt-a-thon and fun pet celebration, is Saturday, Nov. 23 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Liberty Station at NTC Park, 2455 Cushing Road.
The Festival offers pet products and services, adoption, yummy eats, vet tips, speakers, music, a kids area, and auction prizes.
The free event was started by San Diego-based indie filmmaker Jude Artenstein.
“I was deeply affected by the 2008-09 economic crises,” said Artenstein on her website, doggiestreetfestival.org. “News stories chronicled abandoned dogs and cats left behind in empty houses – families losing jobs unable to keep their pets – shelters overflowing no longer accepting animals.
“During that time I was recuperating from a serious accident… unable to walk for months my golden retriever Scout was my constant companion. As my health improved I was eager to do something for Scout and his four-legged friends. That’s when the idea to create Doggie Street Festival was born.”
Doggie Street Fest is an adoption event bringing together the rescue community with adoptable dogs and cats, providing a platform to increase adoption and educate on spay/neuter options. The event brings together veterinarians, pet professionals, trainers and health and nutrition experts to provide information and improved care, all wrapped in a festive public celebration.
Fiesta Island Dog Owners (FIDO), a nonprofit advocating for canines, will have a booth at the Doggie Street Festival to inform the public about the next step in the City’s planning process for Fiesta Island, a hearing in 2020 before the California Coastal Commission.
San Diego City Council voted unanimously in June for the more dog-friendly of two options offered for redeveloping Fiesta Island. The Council joined four other previous governmental bodies in endorsing dog-friendlier Option B proposed as an amendment to the Mission Bay Park Master Plan to update the land uses and vision for manmade, 470-acre, multi-use Fiesta Island. Option B keeps the island intact and undivided while increasing the fenced, off-leash area, which would have been bisected by a road if Option A had been chosen.
“Many thousands of people have attended DSF and many hundreds of dogs and cats have gone home with new families on festival day fortified with useful information and increased awareness,” noted Arenstein.
For more information, visit doggiestreetfestival.org or email [email protected].
