Woofstock 2005
I�ve been to the last three Woofstocks, sponsored by the Lee County Humane Society (LCHS), here in Auburn.  This year, I decided to help ESRA set up a booth at the event.  I got the tent and ESRA banner the week before from Heather, and I got two volunteers (Janet and Cathy) signed up to help manned the booth on Saturday, August 20, 2005.  This is the first time I�m in charge of running a booth.  There was a lot of planning involved, but actually there wasn�t a lot to do on the day of the event.  I guess it�s because we had planned well for the event.  I started out by contacting the LCHS about a month ago to find out the exact date of the event (my prior experience tells me it�s always the first week after fall semester starts).  I also started emailing the person who is supposed to be in charge of the event (Whitney, the new PR person/event coordinator for LCHS).  However, after two emails, I didn�t receive any replies, so I started calling LCHS everyday to ask to speak to Whitney.  Finally, after about three days, Whitney called me back and later emailed me back, "We ask that you do NOT sell any items.  You are more than welcome (and encouraged) to bring give-aways (like dog treats) and material/information to pass out to attendees.  We ask that you do NOT bring any dogs as the only dogs at the event should be the ones who come along with our attendees and the dogs from the shelter that we will have available for adoption."  Whitney said said they don't even want us to take donations, unless the donation is for the humane society.  However, she said it's OKAY to bring adopted rescued Springers, but not foster dogs for adoption.  Items I brought to the event:
*Canopy/tent
*ESRA banner
*Ice chest with ice
*Large table
*Two chairs
*Water and some bottled drinks
*Water bowl for dogs
*Cups for humans
*Paper towels
*Tape/scissors/ropes
*Picnic blanket/groundcover for the dogs to lie on
*Vinyl tablecloth (can be hanged up on the side of the tent if it starts to rain)
*Plastic bags for dog poop
*Pamphlets (Whitney recommended 300)
*Business Cards with "English Springer Rescue America, Inc." and "www.springerrescue.org" on them (I made 300)
*Dog biscuits in snack-sized Ziplock bags, with "English Springer Rescue America, Inc." and "www.springerrescue.org" address labels on the bags (total about 100 bags)
*Bandannas (I made about 100 with extra fabric and pinking shear)
I also recommended volunteers to bring food if they are working during lunch hours, and bug spray if they want to walk their dogs on the park�s trail.
On the day of the event, Janet also brought about 250 Springer bookmarks she made, about 50 bandannas, and two folding chairs. 

Woofstock is held in the front manicured grass area of Kiesel Park.  The event is open to public from 9AM to 2 PM.  Janet said she would be there from 8:30 AM to 10:30 AM, and Cathy said she would be there from 10:30 AM to 12:30 PM.  I got there right before 8:30 AM to set up for the event, and most of the booths were already set up.  Whitney indicated an open area where we could set up our booth, and luckily we could drive our car into the area to offload the equipment.  Right after I got everything out of my car, Janet and Bonnie (Janet�s adopted rescued Springer), and Janet�s friend Susan, showed up.  It took us about 30 minutes sorting through the tent material, before an event attendee said he would help us with the tent.  Actually he�s not a stranger, because I�ve met him and his wife and their three dogs several times at Kiesel Park before.  Then about 15 minutes after that, we finally had the tent up, which is a good thing, because it was getting hot.  And we hanged the ESRA banner on the entrance side of the tent.  Not only that�s the side where the visitors came up the walk, the banner also helped the shield some of the sun into the tent.  There were some warm breeze, but it was still over 90 degrees.  At least we didn�t get rained on.
This is the LCHS booth, near ours.  They were taking donations for the photo contest for their 2006 calendar. Band playing.  They also had kiddie pools for dogs like always.
Our booth was right across from the agility course and the open field where they had police dog and fly dog exhibitions.  So we had the best seats in the house.
Susan and Bonnie.  Bonnie got a lot of petting from people.  Everybody just thought she�s so pretty and cute.  Janet and Susan walked with Bonnie around a little bit, looking at the other booths, and they said Bonnie enjoyed the misters at the Sprint booth.
Fly dog demonstration.  The dog was adopted from LCHS and just competed in the national fly dog championship and took first place!
A visitor�s dog going through the agility course.
Janet�s new foster dog, Spot, was from Huntsville.  Patty (Jeremy�s foster mom) transported him from Birmingham to Woofstock.  Here is Spot with Janet.  Spot is so sweet and friendly and polite to every human and dog, and did not act like he�s eight years old at all.  But he did try to mark just about everything.  Janet and Susan and Bonnie and Spot left around 11 AM so Spot could get groomed before going to Janet�s house, and also it was getting too hot for Bonnie.
According to the LCHS, there were over 600 people and 300 dogs attended the event.  But this black and white Springer was the only Springer visitor we saw.
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