Back after 71 years, the La Jolla Pet Parade and Festival will fill the village with barks, meows and neighs as La Jolla celebrates its pet-friendly traditions Saturday morning, May 16. Promote La Jolla (PLJ)’s new event will also kick off a $2 million fund-raising campaign benefiting San Diego’s first high-volume, low-cost spay and neuter clinic. The stationary clinic is being developed jointly by the Spay & Neuter Action Project (SNAP) co-founded by La Jollan Candy Schumann and the Feral Cat Coalition to address the pet overpopulation crisis.  The festival will start with pet parade registrations, vendor booth sales and pet adoptions at 8:30 a.m., continuing with a “doga” (dog and owner yoga) warm-up at 9 a.m. and a “What’s That Mutt?” contest at 9:30. The parade steps off from the Festival Lot at the corner of Silverado Street and Herschel Avenue at 10 a.m. and twists through La Jolla streets before returning to its starting point. The full parade route is available online at www.lajollaby thesea.com (click on pet parade/registration). Contests for the “cutest puppy ever,” most creative costume, most unusual, ugliest, biggest and tiniest dogs and “stupidest pet trick,” and, in tribute to the current CowParade, “best bovine impression,” will be held at the end of the parade at the Festival Lot. Vendor sales of pet products and services and adoptions will continue until festival wrap-up at 1 p.m. Parade participants are encouraged to pre-register by visiting Ark Antiques, Statements, Muttropolis, Warwick’s Books, Maudlin, La Jolla Pet Stop, La Jolla Brewhouse, La Jolla Village Lodge and Martin Lawrence Gallery or online at the SNAP website, www.snap-sandiego.org, which offers festival details and updates.  A VIP (Very Important Pet) registration package, including an official T-shirt, goodie bag and prime parade position, is $45, while a standard entry fee, including parade and contest entries, is $25 per pet. All event proceeds benefit SNAP’s clinic fund. Among pre-registered pets are dogs, “several brave cats” and miniature horses, according to committee member Janet McCulley of Muttropolis. Sponsored by PLJ and organized by volunteers from La Jolla’s pet-loving businesses, this new annual event is designed to showcase the business community’s open-paw friendliness to dogs and other animals while also raising money for a worthy cause, said PLJ board member Nancy Warwick of Warwick’s Books. Warwick’s two poodles accompany her to work every day. Her bookstore welcomes customers’ well-behaved pets, as do many other La Jolla businesses. Warwick explained that PLJ plans to continue its successful annual car show and gallery walk and wants to develop new events to attract both locals and San Diego residents to patronize La Jolla shops, restaurants and other businesses. The idea of a pet festival was a logical extension of the welcoming water bowls greeting customers at numerous village businesses. “We’re also interested in promoting restaurants offering dog-friendly dining,” Warwick said. The Biscuit Booth, located at the Festival Lot, will provide lists of dog-friendly businesses. In brainstorming the concept, the committee discovered from Carol Olten of the La Jolla Historical Society that residents had previously staged a “pooch parade” in 1937 and 1938, demonstrating the village’s longstanding attachment to pets. Movie star Benji, along with his trainer, San Diego resident Joe Camp, is the parade’s grand marshal. Camp will sign copies of his new book, “The Soul of a Horse,” at a vendor booth. Other vendors will offer pet foods and other pet supplies and services, including portraits and photos.  “We’re also doing something that’s fun. The winner of the ‘What’s That Mutt?’ contest will receive DNA tests for their dog,” McCulley explained. Rescue groups offering pet adoptions include SNAP, FOCAS (Friends of County Animal Shelters), Operation Greyhound, Pug Rescue, Chula Vista Animal Care Facility, Wee Companions Small Animal Adoption and Dog Squad Rescue. SNAP volunteer executive director Schumann, who is spearheading the drive for the new spay and neuter clinic, is excited about PLJ’s support. Her organization, with its two Neuter Scooters (mobile surgical clinics), has “fixed” more than 15,000 pets for low-income families, rescue groups and caregivers of abandoned and homeless pets.  “We know we’re having an impact. But to address the problem of pet overpopulation we have to provide a high-volume spay and neuter clinic. We cannot end euthanasia in San Diego County otherwise. We have to get at the root of the problem,” she explained. About 95 percent of tax and donor dollars spent on animal welfare is now devoted to overpopulation issues, she said. Current economic problems have resulted in more pets left unaltered, increasing the problem. Nationally, other communities have reduced overpopulation through such clinics, all run by grassroots groups. SNAP is seeking help finding and funding a clinic location. To donate or help, call (619) 525-3047 or visit www.snap-sandiego.org.