{"id":4881,"date":"2019-11-12T10:51:14","date_gmt":"2019-11-12T15:51:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/travelwriting\/?page_id=4881"},"modified":"2019-11-19T12:03:59","modified_gmt":"2019-11-19T17:03:59","slug":"pinecrest-gardens-offers-much-for-visitors-and-dogs-throughout-the-year","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/travelwriting\/?page_id=4881","title":{"rendered":"Pinecrest Gardens offers much for visitors (and dogs) throughout the year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Posted November 12, 2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By ADAM SPECTOR <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While walking my dog at the Sunday farmer\u2019s market at Pinecrest Gardens, I saw a long line at the front entrance, then my dog pulled me towards this line and I was also curious about the line. It turned out that it was for the annual Howl-O-Ween, a charitable event that raises money for Paws 4 You, which is a non-profit and no-kill dog shelter that saves thousands of dogs a year, during its 11 years of service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pinecrest Gardens is a 20-acre park in the Village of Pinecrest, which is a part of Miami, Florida, on the corner of SW 111th Street and Red Road. It was the original location of the Parrot Jungle, a park that started in 1936 until it was moved to the city of Miami\u2019s Watson Island back in 2003.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The Sunday Farmer\u2019s Market on a cloudy day (Photos by Adam Spector).<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Pinecrest Gardens is a public place that can be appealing to both locals and tourists. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The beautiful park with tropical foliage once only featured events with parrots and tropical birds, Pinecrest Gardens is now often used for large public events throughout the year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to the annual Howl-O-Ween, there are often concerts and art festivals at this park. This upcoming Friday, the Greater Miami Youth Symphony will be performing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every Sunday, there is a farmers\u2019\nmarket where local crafts and foods are sold, which attracts both locals and\nvisitors to the area. The farmers market is a venue that is located in the\nparking lot of Pinecrest Gardens, which consists of approximately 30 vendors\nthat sell produce, plants, food and local handicrafts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each week hundreds of people gather from near and far with their families and pets to eat, drink, and shop. This is a popular event that goes from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. most Sundays, and it is often quite difficult to find parking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Visitors walk the farmer’s market.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Pinecrest Gardens has countless\ntourist-friendly events ranging from concerts to art festivals to plant shows\nas well as cult movie screenings throughout the year. It is in many ways\nsimilar to Fairchild Gardens, except on a smaller scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After taking my dog to the farmers market and having a great time, I saw hundreds of people in line with the Howl-O-Ween, a charitable event that raises money for Paws 4 You. As mentioned before, this is a non-profit, no-kill dog shelter that saves thousands of dogs a year, during its 11 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Pinecrest Gardens\ndirector, Alana Perez, the Paws 4 You event has been a huge success every year.\nLast year, it attracted over 2,000 visitors and continues to be a huge success.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis event is a fundraiser for this\nincredible group called Paws 4 You rescue. They are one of the most remarkable\nrescue groups in all of South Florida,\u201d Perez said. \u201cThey have a facility just\nnear the Falls, where they have medical care, cleaning kennels, they\u2019re\nnon-kill, they\u2019re so special. And this is one of the few fundraisers that they\ndo and a very important one for them because they run almost strictly on\ndonations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Events include dog races, costume events, and vendors that all donated a portion of their proceeds to the non-profit. The most noteworthy event was the dog costume event, which had hundreds of applicants and only a few winners. The best known of the nine judges for the event was Congresswoman Donna Shalala (D-27th District). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Produce for sale offers a colorful setting.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ticket admissions were $5, all going\nto a good cause. Judy Judkowitz, a Paws 4 You volunteer, explained there were\ndogs up for adoption that were walking around with other volunteers who had red\n\u201cadopt me\u201d bandanas on them. While no specific numbers were provided, Judkowitz\nsaid that many were adopted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA lot of the rescued dogs walking\naround here get adopted. There\u2019s also a process afterwards though. We don\u2019t\njust let people take dogs. We make sure that it\u2019s a good home for them, as we\nmeet with the potential owners to interview them and have them explain their\nhousehold.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 I stopped by a stand called \u201cGreen Treets,\u201d\nwhich sells CBD products to help dogs with chronic pain as well as non-CBD dog\ntreats. According to Jeff Feiler, the owner of the Green Treets store located\nin Coral Gables and a judge in the dog show, the stands were all at Pinecrest\nGardens to sponsor Paws 4 You.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Some of the art on display in Pinecrest Gardens. This display is made from twigs.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have been donating to this cause\nfor quite some time, but this is the first time I\u2019ve ever been this involved.\nWe have a number of sponsors such as our company, Green Treets CBD, which has a\nstand here today and all the proceeds go to the rescue for the benefit of the\ndogs,\u201d Feiler said. \u201cThey have a bunch of dogs over by those tents over there\nthat are being adopted. I always recommend to friends and family to adopt their\npets through this group. I also helped my stepson and his wife adopt their dog\nthrough this organization.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My dog was handed a treat from Green Treets, which he sniffed and walked away without even touching it. The employee laughed and said, \u201cyour dog is definitely not going to be our mascot.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I would rate it as a very successful day and my dog had the time of his life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Posted November 12, 2019 By ADAM SPECTOR  While walking my dog at the Sunday farmer\u2019s market at Pinecrest Gardens, I saw a long line at the front entrance, then my dog pulled me towards this line and I was also … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":65,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"sidebar-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4881","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/travelwriting\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/travelwriting\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/travelwriting\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/travelwriting\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/travelwriting\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4881"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/travelwriting\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4881\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4915,"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/travelwriting\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4881\/revisions\/4915"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/travelwriting\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/65"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/travelwriting\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}