Hopeful Hearts Animal Rescue will be hosting the 2nd Annual Bark in the Park this Saturday at the Columbia Water Park to raise funds for medical care for special needs and senior dogs the organization cares for.
The event will feature more than 20 arts and crafts and small business vendors, as well as food and dessert trucks including Mayitos Taqueria, Ruby Roux and Rosie’s Ice Cream. There will also be live entertainment this year with country artist Hunter Singley, pop-punk band Sick in the Summer, river rock band Gray Skies Turning and 70s-style rock band Malice.
There will also be a face painting station and bounces houses for children to enjoy during the event, and it is pet friendly. Organizers ask that pets be leashed or harnessed with no nervous or aggressive dogs.
The organization is foster based and currently can only take care of roughly 50 animals at a time. Hopeful Hearts is partnering with the Hub City Humane Society for the event this year and will have a number of its adoptable and adorable pets at the water park for meet and greets.
Hopeful Hearts Founder and Director Amanda Lambert, who previously worked with Hub City Humane Society, said she saw a real need in Marion County for more to be done to help the community’s animals and felt she was capable of doing more, leading to the formation of the organization.
“I’ve always been in the animal business,” she said. “It started off as volunteer work, but I wanted to do more.”
Vendor fees from the event will go towards medical care bills such as heart worm treatments for the organization’s intakes. Lambert said Hopeful Hearts takes in a lot of urgent care, special needs, senior and sick animals, which causes costs to get high.
The organization is also always looking for volunteers and fosters to partner with to save more lives, according to Lambert.
There will be a Pennies for Paws Jar at the event for eventgoers to donate to Hopeful Hearts.
The event will begin at 10 a.m. and conclude at 5 p.m., with live entertainment taking the stage at noon.
