Downtown LA’s 14th annual Dog Days Celebration will run for two weeks—from September 21 to October 2—as a virtual extravaganza to ensure the safety of everyone’s pets and owners.
While the event normally runs for one day, in person, in July, it was “a really hard decision” for Holley and her team to not cancel the event.
“One of the biggest things that it does is bring people together,” said Suzanne Holley, president and CEO of the Downtown Center Business Improvement District. “We held off as long as we could hoping that we could still have an in-person event.
“We didn’t want to do away with the idea altogether because it is for Downtown residents, and the residents are still here and so are their dogs.”
Founded in 2007, this event was created to “support all of the dog owners downtown because we were really building a dog community, so we wanted to have a community event,” she said.
Holley remembers driving up to Cathedral of Our Lady of Angels and seeing Downtown surrounded with people walking their dogs to the event.
“We know there is a community of dog owners who still really want to connect,” Holley said. “There are all of these services, a whole community of dog services, and we really want to support them as well, so we decided to move ahead with a virtual format.”
Knowing it is unlikely to have the same turnout as an in-person event, Holley’s team decided to extend the event to two weeks.
“In that way, we can really spread the love and the community building over a longer period of time,” Holley said.
Similar to past Dog Day Celebrations, there will be giveaways, promotions, discounts and specials offered by several dog services in the community. Some of the services partaking in the event include DTLA Vet, pet store Pet Project LA, South Park Doggy Daycare, Skid Rover that provides nonprofit assistance to the homeless with pets, and FitPals LA.
“Everyone will have the opportunity to enter into a drawing to win prizes that are going to be drawn on each of the two Fridays,” Holley said. “We are going to have at least five winners each Friday, and they will win a $100 package of a whole bunch of different things.”
Entries are unlimited; all that is needed is an email address. The winners will be contacted by that email on the Friday of each week.
Participants can enter the Cutest Pooch contest by uploading a photo of their dog in attire. The website will include a full pooch pic gallery to showcase all of the dogs.
“At the end of the event on October 2, we are going to send out an email to everyone who participated letting them know the results of the event,” Holley said.
Access to the event will be at DowntownLA.com/DogDays.
