The Humane Society of Morgan County (HSMC) held its 30th-anniversary festival Saturday at the Madison Lion’s Club. The fundraising event ran from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and was open to the public and canine companions.
Sunny weather lasted throughout the day, and temperatures reached the mid-90s, resulting in a smaller crowd than expected. Despite the hot temperatures, numerous vendors, adoptable dogs, and even a petting zoo were present at the celebration.
Miranda Johnson, director of the HSMC, was satisfied with the event’s turnout despite the effects of the hot weather. “Many people couldn’t make it because of [the heat], but we still felt like it was a good month to do this,” Johnson said.
According to Johnson, the Humane Society had wanted to hold a similar event last year, but plans fell through.
With the organization’s 30th year in service, she believed the event would be the perfect opportunity for the community.
“We made a choice last year that this is what we really wanted to do for this year,” Johnson said. “It just happened to be our 30th anniversary, so it needed to happen.”
In addition to several vendors, multiple crafts were available for children. HSMC partnered with Lowe’s of Madison to help make this possible.
“Lowe’s donated [items], and there are some people out there volunteering with some building kits,” Johnson said. “There’s a butterfly kit, and they have a little tractor, so it’s really cool.”
Due to the absence of sponsors at the event, Johnson credited an unknown financial donor for helping make the 30th-anniversary festival possible.
“We had an anonymous donation of $2,000, which is awesome,” the director said. “It’s kind of a rarity.”
Johnson hopes the event will help spread awareness of the Humane Society’s contributions to Morgan County.
“I do hope that people hear about it and realize that we did this for the community,” she said. “Hopefully, [the event] will bring awareness to what we are doing, and there will be more adoptions from it.”
With five years working at HSMC, Johnson is proud to see the “great accomplishment” of the organization’s 30 years of service.
“I’m sure the founders would be proud of how we are doing things and keeping it going,” she said. “We’re hoping to keep it going another 30 years.”
Along with the variety of vendors and activities available to the public, visitors watched HSMC staffer Lorelai Charpentier exhibit the training she has taught her dog, Ada.
With her part-time position at the organization, Charpentier decided to use the festival to promote her new business, ‘Narrow Road Dog Training.’
“[The HSMC said] we’re having a festival for vendors, [so I asked] if I could promote my business,” she said. “I figured it would be a good way to promote because many people come to things like this.”
Charpentier credited Ada with helping her discover her passion for dog training.
“I’ve had her since I was 14,” she said. “She’s the one who made me want to get into dog training because I realized how good I was at it.”
Before the exhibition for Ada’s training, Charpentier was still determining how her canine would respond to commands due to the more crowded atmosphere.
“This is going to be a trial and error for me to see if she will even listen with so many people here,” she said. “It’s a new environment with dogs and people everywhere.”
With the start of her new business, Charpentier hopes that her exhibition will show visitors how hard she has worked with Ada.
“I hope people can see what I can do,” she said. “My main goal is to be able to work with dogs in shelters.”
Charpentier believes it is essential to train shelter dogs due to their differing needs.
“[The shelter dogs] really need work.” She said, “I want to show them what I can do with dogs to help them get adopted.”