Contributed by Alexander Stone
Caring for Creatures Animal Sanctuary in Palmyra and the Fluvanna Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) will be joining nine other animal rescue and welfare groups from throughout Central Virginia at the Scottsville Pavilion on Sunday Sept. 15 between noon and 4 p.m. to exhibit rescued animals available for adoption or fostering, and to educate the public regarding the groups’ lifesaving programs.
While the two Fluvanna groups will be featuring adoptable cats and dogs, this second annual Creatures Great & Small Festival will also have on display many other rescued animals. There will be rabbits from Bunni Lu, goats and a pony from Feel Better Farm, horses from Gallastar Equine Rescue, a mini-donkey from the Madison-Greene Humane Society, Shetland sheepdogs from Northern Virginia Sheltie Rescue and more. In total, 11 groups will be gathering from Lovingston, Waynesboro, Palmyra, Charlottesville, Esmont, Troy, and Ruckersville to participate in this once-a-year animal rescue showcase.
Festival visitors may bring their pets to participate in an ongoing Blessing of the Animals from noon to 4 p.m. hosted by Pastor Laura Stratton from the Scottsville United Methodist Church. There will also be numerous opportunities for animal selfie photos, as well as meet-and-greets with creatures at several petting pens.
A Festival Mega-Raffle will be held to benefit the exhibiting groups. Prizes will be gift certificate bundles worth $200, $100 and $50. The raised funds will be distributed at the end of the day to the groups based on the results of a Best-Exhibit-of-Festival contest to be decided by attendee ballot.
There will also be music and food for festival visitors to enjoy. Lunch and snack choices will include barbecue (BBQ U), veggie tacos (Zen Eats), hot sandwiches (T&M Foods), Turkish street foods (Otto’s), ices (Kona Ice) and funnel cakes (T&M Foods). Partakers will be able to eat at covered picnic benches while listening to live music performed by Four Hits and a Miss from 2 to 3:30 p.m.
The Second Annual Creatures Great & Small Festival is being organized by the Scottsville-based James River Good Works Group. “We were very happy with last year’s festival results,” said Group Director Kathy Arbuthnott. “We’re looking forward to doing even more to help abandoned and abused animals with this year’s festival.”
Admission to the festival is free, and pets are welcome. For more info, go to www.facebook.com/jrgoodworks or james-river-good-works-group.square.site.
