Pet Talk

by Cathy Davis
www.houltonanimalshelter.com
    I can’t remember when so many people have had so much fun.  Saturday was an amazing day, starting out with probably the most perfect weather you could ask for. Not too hot, not too cool, not too windy, as Goldilocks would say, this day was just right.
    Most of you know what I’m talking about because so many of you were there. This past Saturday the Houlton Humane Society “rocked the doghouse” in beautiful downtown Houlton, Maine, celebrating all day long with events from one end of Monument Park to the other.
    Thirty cars registered for our first ever car show and what a hit that was!  This is a great turn out for our first year and you should have seen these cars.  Some of them took me way back to the good old days.  I’m not old enough to have been driving in the 50’s but my first car was a 1950 Chevrolet that we paid $50 for.  Boy do I wish I still had that car. At the time, I was 17 and the car was very, very, very old and very big and very heavy and as a teenage girl it was embarrassing to drive. Now a 1950 Chevrolet in that same condition would be a highly sought after antique and worth a small fortune. Many thanks to all the car owners who participated; we look forward to seeing you next year!
    We had a huge amount of baked good donated so we had a full table of bake sale items, and a full table of door prizes, which were given out during the day. All day long there were games for the youngsters, and the young at heart.  I totally embarrassed myself by being coerced into a sack race, and yes, I came in last.  I am an old woman; I don’t jump well with a potato sack around my legs. Let’s be honest, I don’t jump well without a potato sack around my legs!
    WHOU did a live broadcast for us, Tim the Tuneman was there all day long helping with the games, announcing events, bringing us some fresh and lively music and just making sure everybody had fun.
    We had a lemonade stand, we sold a bazillion hotdogs, we had popcorn and cotton candy, we had a dog contest, and I’ve never seen so many dogs in the park at one time, and they all got along great.   
    One of the most exciting things that happened all day long is the adoption of two long-term resident cats from the Shelter!
    We had a barbeque and then at 6 p.m. the concert.  I apologize right now for not catching the names of the opening act for Ravocta but they were really good!  And Ravocta was outstanding!  
    There are way too many people to thank everybody by name for all their help this weekend but I just have to say that Jon and Heather Miller, who organized this event, built the games, built the lemonade stand, delivered all the equipment and tables and picked everything back up, worked harder than anybody I’ve ever seen on any project and made it all seem to easy and so much fun.  
    Jon and Cara Maples worked their hearts out all day long manning tables, helping wherever needed, and it was Jon’s birthday, he could have been off having an adventure somewhere but he spent his special day with us, thank you so much Jon and Cara!
    And thank you all for coming, for donating door prizes, for donating pizza, for sharing our day. This event was held to raise money for the animals in our care, to help pay the medical bills, the food bill, the light bill, all the costs associated with taking care of unwanted, homeless, abandoned animals. I would rather adopt them all out and not need to hold one more fundraiser, but so long as there is one homeless animal left, we will be there, and it’s great knowing you’re there with us!  Thank you!