Woofstock, a festival celebrating “Peace, Love, and Paws” that has grown into a favorite community event since it began 10 years ago, returns to Diekroger Park in Wright City this Saturday, Sept. 12, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

A decade after it began, this year’s event also marks a major milestone for the nonprofit that hosts it, Wags & Whiskers, which recently opened its long-awaited animal shelter in Innsbrook.

“This year Wags & Whiskers themselves will have adoptable pets, since we are open now,” said Wags & Whiskers Board Secretary Taylor Erb. “And then we will have free vaccines and microchips to celebrate that.” 

The event also features various vendors, a photo booth, and activities such as wiener dog races.

The vaccinations and microchips, previously provided during Woofstock as low-cost services, will be free this year thanks to Wags & Whiskers’ partnerships with Hometown Vet Clinic, Angels for Animals, and Petco Love’s Vaccinated & Loved Initiative, the nonprofit said in a press release.

“Woofstock has always been about bringing people together through our shared love of animals, and we can’t think of a better way to celebrate our 10th year than by helping families protect the pets they love,” Wags & Whiskers said in the release.

“We hope people will come out, have some fun and take advantage of this opportunity to help keep their pets healthy and safe.”

Erb, who has been organizing Woofstock for the past six years, said the event has expanded since it first began.

“So it started out as just kind of a community gathering event, and it was kind of our way to say ‘thank you’ for all the support, and then it grew to inviting vendors and other shelters to come attend and show off their adoptable pets and even do adoptions,” she said. She added that the low-cost, and now free, vaccinations and microchips were later additions.

At an Aug. 15 ribbon cutting for Wags & Whiskers’ new shelter, Board President Tracy Sator cautioned that while the facility’s doors had opened, they were still working on things like training volunteers and installing kennels. Erb said Sept. 4, however, that the shelter is now up and running and open for business.

“We just accepted our first dog this week, and we are still slow-rolling, so we are not going full capacity right away, but we aren’t necessarily actively turning away people either. So we do have adoptables. We have several cats, and now we have one dog,” she said.

While Woofstock is a dog-focused event, felines will not be turned away, Erb said.

“Cats can still come see us for vaccines and microchips on that day, and there will be adoptable cats,” she said. “But there’s not really many activities for them because it is at a park close to the highway, so we want to make sure that if they do come, that they are kenneled or in a carrier of some kind.”

Woofstock is free to attend. Diekroeger Park is located at 13410 E. Veterans Memorial Pkwy, Wright City. Visit www.wags-whiskers.org for more information.