“Woofstock” raises money and awareness

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — If you’re looking to add a dog to your family, or simply want to support a local cause, a nonprofit in Sioux Falls is set to host a special event.

4-year-old Sage and 10-year-old Junior are dachshunds, and will be part of Saturday’s lineup at Woofstock.

“Kind of a knockoff on Woodstock. The very first year we did this we tried to tie in to Woodstock, nobody cares about Woodstock any more, that’s old news, it’s Woofstock, so it’s all about dogs,” Dakota Dachshund Rescue’s Doug Wade said.

Woofstock is a day of music, vendors, and dogs. It’s also a fundraiser for Dakota Dachshund Rescue.

“Our biggest thing is medical, and we spend over $100,000 a year on medical expenses,” Wade said.

Nearly 20 adoptable dogs will attend Woofstock, but the organization currently has about 40 dogs in foster care.

“The adoption fees don’t even cover half the costs of the dogs, on average, so we’ve got to raise the money for it,” Wade said.

“It’s just a great opportunity for a lot of exposure for these dogs,” Remedy Event Coordinator Aaron Nelson said.

Aaron Nelson is event coordinator at Remedy Brewing Company, which will host Woofstock for a fourth straight year.

“If there’s any chance that we can give back to the community, we try our best with it. We try to do our best to bring the community together and dogs is definitely one way to do it,” Nelson said.

Wade says the event is just as much about raising awareness as it is money.

“We really want people to consider fostering. You can foster, if you’re on the fence, you could do a short-term foster, like somebody’s going to go away for two, three days and you can try it, see if it’s something for you, but we desperately need foster homes that’s for sure,” Wade said.

Helping put a dog on the path to their forever home.

Woofstock runs from 1:00 to 5:00 Saturday afternoon at Remedy Brewing Company at 8th & Railroad in downtown Sioux Falls.

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