A fundraising event at a local brewery will welcome both car and animal lovers in a show of support for the Gilmer County Animal Shelter.
The Rescues and Rides Charity Car Show will take place at Cartecay River Brewing Company Saturday, Sept. 11, from 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
Cars of any make and model will be on display, and there’s no fee to show one, confirmed brewery owner, Brooks Wade.
“It’s an open show. We’ll also have live music. Connor Priest will be playing during the car show,” he added.
The animal shelter will be bringing dogs that can be adopted to the event, and adoptable cats will be brought by Furry Purrs, a new local pet rescue organization, said Daniel Laukka, animal shelter director.
“They’re a cat rescue opened up by one of (the animal shelter’s) former employees. She will be there with some cats and kittens. Shelter Dogs for Veterans will be there to (promote) what they do, as well,” Laukka added.
A $75 adoption fee for dogs includes spay-neuter procedure, rabies vaccination, booster shot, dewormer and a heartworm test, he confirmed.
Money to benefit the shelter will be raised through donation boxes that will be set up during the car show. Wade said he will also be donating $2 from each beer purchased.
“I have a lot of love for the animal shelter. I’m excited to do something to help them out, draw some attention to some of their dogs and get them some money raised,” he added.
Wade said he hosts a weekly dog adoption effort at his establishment for another local nonprofit pet rescue, Homeward Bound.
“I’ve been sponsoring a pet of the week for them for about a year and a half. They bring a dog to the brewery from 3-5 p.m. every Wednesday,” he said.
“They’ve adopted out 20- something dogs off of that, including some that have been there quite a while.”
This will be the brewing company’s first car show fundraiser for the animal shelter, although Wade said he previously hosted a charitable Porsche car show, which raised funds to buy jackets and blankets for the homeless.
“That was one make, just Porsches. This will be the first time it’s an open thing,” he added.
Laukka noted the car show is the latest venue for the shelter to promote its adoptable pets.
“It seems like we have something going on every month or every other month,” he added.
“This is the first one, and I think there’s already talk about trying to put together another one if it goes well.”
A program in which feral cats are trapped, then spayed or neutered and released, has become an ongoing thing at the shelter, Laukka confirmed. Friends of the Gilmer Animal Shelter (FOGAS) are still maintaining a list of property owners with feral cats they want to have fixed.
“The first one was done to try to get up to 40 back in May, and we ended up with close to 50. Instead of doing a large quantity at a time, right now we’re doing a few here and there. FOGAS is paying for another 40 to be (spayed or neutered),” Laukka said.