A new free family-friendly festival to support animal rescues is coming to Liverpool

A brand new free family-friendly festival supporting animal rescues is happening in Liverpool on Sunday June 29.

RescueFest at Walton Hall Park is a free family-friendly festival and will not only showcase the work of the rescue organisations, it’ll also feature a fun dog show, with classes including puppies, seniors and ‘wonderful wonkies’ for those with a health condition or disability.

There’ll be an artisan marketplace with local independent makers and vintage, talks and workshops, street food, fairground rides and a chance for kids to meet animal mascots.

The non-profit event has been created by People’s Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), a foster-based dog and cat rescue charity.

Hannah Carter and her husband David, who live in Wirral, came up with the idea after being disappointed that other festivals didn’t put enough emphasis on the hard-working teams who help all kinds of different animals.

She says: “We’ve been to lots of events as the charity and as customers and we’ve found that there isn’t anything that’s charity-run in the way that RescueFest is.

“It often doesn’t feel like the charities are celebrated enough by organisers and they’re not at the heart of the event.

“Most are also primarily about dogs, but there are loads of different animal charities who rescue everything from horses to hedgehogs so we wanted to be a festival where any animal charity could come and raise awareness and funds.”

Hannah and husband David began planning RescueFest a year ago, searching for the ideal location to bring together crowds of animal lovers.

“We started looking at where we could hold it, what we would need to provide, and before we knew it, it wasn’t just research, it was happening,” she explains.

“We’ll have lots of different animal charities that people can go and meet, talk to and learn about what they do, and if they want to donate on the day or become a volunteer, that would be amazing.

“There’ll be dog shows on all day, with around 20 classes like cutest puppy, golden oldies, waggiest bum, best trick, best rescue and dog most like their owner.

“We’ll also have wonderful wonkies, for dogs who are maybe missing an eye or a leg, or have a hidden health condition like epilepsy. We love those dogs so we really wanted to put a class in especially for them, and we have a class for exempt breeds as well because we felt it was important to celebrate those dogs too.”

RescueFest is free, so families can just turn up on the day between 10am and 6pm, although it is possible to get tickets free of charge in advance via the website.

“It’s should be a really good free family day out for anyone who loves animals,” adds Hannah. 

“There’s a big funfair to keep the kids entertained and a street theatre company is coming dressed as animal characters to interact with everyone and demonstrate the talks.

“What we really want is to let people know about charities they might not have heard of so they can find out a bit more about them and maybe go away thinking they’ll support them. 

“And, if they’re thinking of getting an animal, then hopefully they’ll consider going to a rescue.”

Get all the information on their website.

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