17th Annual Doggie Downs

Article By Wyatt Winters

JASPER, TEXAS- Today the Sandy Creek Park in Jasper hosted its annual Fall Butterfly Festival, where the community comes together to enjoy good food and browse the various vendor booths that filled the park. Events included the releasing of butterflies at the Arboretum and a dog race!

The 17th Annual Doggie Downs sponsored by the Spay and Neuter Initiative Pet Society (S.N.I.P.S.) started at 10:30a.m. and featured 3 race categories: Dachshund, Small Mutts, and Medium Sized Mutts. The top 3 winners of each category received trophies and cash prizes.

“It was very exciting!” Says Jodi Bond, owner of the 3rd place winner in the small mutts category Tiny Roo. “It was a little confusing for a minute there, but once we caught on we were great!”

“We’ve been doing this for 17 years.” Says Vice president of S.N.I.P.S. Flo Stokesbary. “I saw my first weenie dog race twenty years ago… and when I first got involved in S.N.I.P.S. That's what I knew we had to

do to raise money. It’d be a great fundraiser for us.”

Stokesbary spoke about S.N.I.P.S. and their mission to help low income families be able to afford to spay and neuter their pets so they can keep them and lessen unwanted strays. “These families want their pets and they need their pets, but they don’t always have the money because spay and neutering is so expensive.”

You can contact S.N.I.P.S. through their phone number at 409-224-4412 or visit their website at www.snipsjasperorg.org<http://www.snipsjasperorg.org>.