21 August 2023
MANHATTAN, K.S. (KSNT) – One day each year, T. Russell Reitz animal shelter and Manhattan Parks and Recreation team up to turn the city’s water park into a dog park.
Visitors were encouraged to donate roughly $15 per dog to enter the shelter’s annual ‘Pet Poolooza’ event on Saturday, Aug. 19. All proceeds from the Poolooza go toward the shelter.
“It is a big money earner for us,” Kaitlyn Gebhardt, the shelter’s interim intake coordinator, said. “It helps us to be able to put on other events, as well as be able to pay for other things at the shelter, such as animal enrichment, medical things, anything that we need for the animals that we can’t pull from other funds.”
Gebhardt predicted between 250 and 300 dogs attended the Poolooza, which is similar to last year’s numbers. With that many furry friends running around the pool, she credits her team of volunteers for lending a hand and making the Poolooza possible.