For most of the year, the Fredericton SPCA asks the public for money in the quiet ways that animal shelters always have: a donation button, a coin jar at the adoption centre, a fundraising page with a progress bar. Once a year, it asks in a room full of dogs in witch hats.
Pet Pawlooza, the shelter's homegrown pet festival, returns on Saturday, October 31, 2026, at The Fredericton Inn, 1315 Regent St. The event runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and entry is by cash donation to the Fredericton SPCA. Because the date lands on Halloween, costumes are encouraged, for people and for pets alike. The organizers are explicit about the timing: with the doors closing at 3 p.m., families can bring the kids and the dog out for the afternoon and still be home in time for trick-or-treating.
The day is built around the things pet owners in the capital already do, gathered under one roof. Local pet-friendly businesses and vendors will set up booths, there will be demonstrations through the afternoon, and Gary Weekes of Weekes Photography will be on hand taking portraits. Weekes is a familiar name to anyone who has followed the shelter's calendar: he has shot the SPCA's Santa pet photos in past Decembers, and his studio work spans commercial portraiture, editorial and fine art. A photographer who has lived and worked in London and New York before settling in Fredericton, he is, in the shelter's annual rhythm, the person who makes a dog look dignified in a felt hat.
That the event exists at all is the interesting part. Pet Pawlooza began in 2023, and it began as an emergency.
In the fall of that year, the Fredericton SPCA sent a letter to its donors with a blunt message: the organization had enough money to stay open for roughly two more months. Executive director Annette James estimated a deficit of about $320,000 for 2023. The causes were the ones shelters across the country were naming that year. More animals were arriving with complex needs, which meant longer stays and larger bills. Medical costs were climbing. A young lab mix named Alexis, then in the shelter's care, needed hip surgery at roughly $5,000, the kind of number that is merely large for a family and structural for a nonprofit.
The response was Pet Pawlooza, held that November at the Fredericton Inn. Dozens of people turned out with their dogs. Booths filled the convention space advertising dog grooming, bunny toys and animal paintings, and there was a spot where dogs could have their photograph taken with Santa Claus. Taylor Hawkins, who came with her dog, told Global News that the appeal was simple: "We don't really have a whole lot of events that you can bring your dog to, so it was just something we thought would be cool to come out and see." Admission was by donation, and the shelter ran a lottery on site. James said the organization hoped to raise $15,000 that day, with a short-term goal of remaining open and a longer-term plan of pursuing partnerships to stabilize operations.
"Every animal deserves a voice," James said at the time, "and we want to be an organization that continues to speak up for them."
The formula held. The event has come back since, moving around the city as venues allow; the 2025 edition was held on November 15 at École Sainte-Anne, running 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with vendors, speakers, grooming demonstrations and holiday photos by Weekes. The 2026 edition returns to the Fredericton Inn, the hotel where it started, and shifts to Halloween.
The venue suits it. The Fredericton Inn holds more than 18,000 square feet of convention and banquet space, and it advertises pet-friendly rooms, which matters more than it might sound: a pet festival is only as good as its ability to absorb a few hundred animals who have never met. A hotel ballroom, with its wide doors, level floors and washable everything, is a practical place to put a great many leashes.
The shelter behind it has been a fixture in the capital for generations, and its mandate has not changed much: to provide shelter and care for abandoned, abused and neglected animals, to promote responsible pet guardianship, and to assist in enforcing animal protection laws. What has changed is the economics. The roof campaign of recent years, a $45,000 replacement on the adoption centre after heavy rain came through it, is the same story in miniature — a donation-funded organization absorbing capital costs that do not pause for the animals inside.
Which is why the costume element is not merely cute. A Halloween pet festival does something a fundraising letter cannot: it puts the shelter's supporters in the same room as the shelter's purpose, on a Saturday, with their dogs dressed as pumpkins. Vendors get a market. Local businesses get their names on the advertising. The SPCA gets the cash at the door and, just as usefully, the reminder that a few thousand people in Fredericton would prefer it stayed open.
For anyone interested in showcasing a business or sponsoring, the shelter asks that inquiries come by email to its events address. There is no ticket to buy in advance and no stated capacity; admission is a cash donation at the door, which means the event is as drop-in as a pet festival can be. Costumes are encouraged but, going by the tone of the announcement, not required. The shelter's own framing is hard to improve on — bring your inner witch, your ghoulish spirit, and celebrate your furry friends while supporting your local animal shelter and local businesses at the same time.
Pet Pawlooza runs Saturday, October 31, 2026, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at The Fredericton Inn, 1315 Regent St. Entry by cash donation to the Fredericton SPCA.