Residents crowded against a neon orange fence, trying to catch a glimpse of internet celebrities Daisy May the basset hound and her owner Amy Freese — contestants on last year’s season of America’s Got Talent — as they deftly navigated an agility course on Saturday morning.
Between 9 a.m. and noon, dozens streamed in and out of Centennial Park to support Trot for Tails, one of Evanston Animal Shelter’s annual fundraisers. Featuring vendors, a raffle and photo ops, the lakefront green drew animal lovers from around the city, some of whom stopped by on their way to the nearby Evanston Dog Beach, situated just south of the event.
Emma Dolan (Weinberg ‘18), the president of the Evanston Animal Shelter Association, said event attendance mainly relies on foot traffic and marketing around the city.
“We hope that people, as they’re on their morning walk, will stop by and see us and have a little fun in their day,” Dolan said.
Evanston Animal Shelter Executive Director Vicky Pasenko said the event’s fundraising campaign started five weeks ago.
Run on a peer-to-peer model, where people create their own online pages for friends and family to donate, participants’ efforts sat at about $32,000 out of the shelter’s $40,000 fundraising goal the morning of the event. As of Sunday, the shelter has raised more than $35,000. The money will fund the shelter’s operating budget, Dolan said.
In October 2024, the Evanston Animal Shelter opened a new $7.2 million facility, the city’s first zero on-site carbon emissions building.
According to Pasenko, the shelter’s new building helps them provide better medical support for animals, including on-site spay and neuter surgeries. Apart from providing housing for dogs and cats, the shelter also houses social service resources such as a pet pantry and foster programs.
“This is just like a celebration of the whole fundraising process,” Pasenko said. “We just want people to come out with their family and their pets and enjoy the agility course and (meet) new vendors.”
Among other vendors, pet care business Woofie’s offered nail-trimming services — with proceeds going to the shelter’s fundraising efforts — while Unleashed Academy, a dog daycare and training facility, handed out flyers for their classes.
Although Freese no longer lives in Evanston, she said she makes a point of supporting the shelter when she’s around — as well as Unleashed, where she said Daisy May learned to do agility courses.
Local pet-owner Kavya Wadhawan attended the event with her dog Daisy, hoping for an opportunity for her pet to interact with others.
“We saw this event on Facebook, and we’ve been wanting more pet-friendly events. Evanston as a city is not very pet-friendly, so that was one of the reasons,” Wadhawan said. “She’s a very social dog. She loves other people and loves to say hi to dogs.”
Previously, Wadhawan said she visited the shelter to drop off an abandoned dog found near her apartment. She said she spent a whole day figuring out what to do, before eventually ending up at Evanston Animal Shelter, which took care of the dog until its adoption shortly afterward.
As Evanston’s municipal shelter, the city owns the shelter and is responsible for its maintenance. According to the shelter’s public metrics, they handled 415 animals in 2024.
“We take in strays and surrenders. We don’t really control who comes through our doors,” Dolan said. “And so all of the medical cases, all of the neglect, abuse, anything you can imagine, when they walk through to us, we care for them.”
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