Butler Art Center holds first Pets Fair
BUTLER — Shirley McCauley has wanted to have a pet-themed art exhibit since becoming involved with the Butler Art Center & Gallery in 2018.
After finally receiving her wish, she turned her attention to promoting the new exhibit by helping plan the art center’s first Pets Fair at Alameda Park Odd Fellows Gazebo on Friday, Aug. 23, evening.
“It’s very exciting,” McCauley said. “We’ve had it on Facebook, on our website and there was a write-up about it in the Butler Eagle earlier. I’m very pleased with how many vendors we have as well.”
The event served as a prelude to the Butler Art Center & Gallery’s “An Artful Celebration of Pets Exhibit” that will run from Saturday through Sept. 6.
McCauley and her friend Mary Beth McQuistion spent the last five months calling vendors and ironing out the details for the event.
“We do a lot of different shows at the art center, but we really haven’t done anything for the pets,” McQuistion said. “We decided we would do something different, go outside the box and a hold a pet fair.”
The two managed to round up nearly a dozen vendors in addition to putting together various activities such as lick painting, paw print art, paw print keepsake ornaments and pet portraits.
Becky Gant, who owns Frog to Prince Pet Grooming in Beaver Falls, was one of more than two dozen people that showed up with a pet after finding out about the event through Facebook.
“It’s just because I absolutely love animals,” said Gant, who brought her miniature Australian shepherd named Penny. “I figured it would be fun to take my dog here, too. It’s been really awesome. If you get the word out to dog owners, their pets are family and they’ll do anything for their babies.”
Meanwhile, Janet Ellis spends time walking at Alameda Park with her Cavalier King Charles Spaniel named MacDuff. She said the event seemed worthwhile after seeing it advertised in the Butler Eagle.
“We love this park, and it was something that I thought would be fun,” Ellis said. “The associated artists were sponsoring it, and it just sounded really enjoyable.”
The art center will host an opening reception for the pets exhibit Saturday from 6 to 8 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
