bay area pet fair

A Record-Smashing Bay Area Pet Fair!

Thank you to everyone who made this year’s Bay Area Pet Fair such a rousing success!


More Pets than Ever

We finished the day with 1,031 adoptions, more than we’ve ever had in a single day - and it happened in 97 degree heat. We ended day 2 with 1,650+ completed adoptions and 100’s more waiting on home visits and final paperwork. We have every reason to believe we will hit our goal of 2,000 pets adopted when we receive the final numbers. 80+ shelters and animal rescue groups brought 2,500 animals to the fair, but here are some highlights:

  • Hopalong Animal Rescue, for example, brought 50 dogs to the fair on Saturday. By 3pm they had found homes for 45 of them!
  • The East Bay SPCA cleared their Dublin shelter and brought all the animals to the fair. By the end of the day, every single one of them had been adopted. They brought all the dogs from their Oakland shelter on Sunday. We’re still waiting on a final count.
  • The Fresno SPCA came for the first time – all of their animals found forever homes on the first day.

Thank you to the hundreds of rescue and shelter volunteers who brought animals to the fair. Every day, we are inspired and humbled by your tireless dedication to the animal community.


Product Giveaways and Pet Education

We hope everyone left the fair with bags-full of goodies and free samples of your new favorite products. Maybe you even stopped by one of our workshops like “Sustainable Pet Products” and “How to Make Your Own Dog Food.” The brands you met at the pet fair don’t just make high-quality, industry-leading products, they are also huge supporters of animal rescue. We are highlighting our platinum and gold Pet Fair sponsors with incredible deals in our stores all month long. We couldn’t put on the fair without them.

Don't miss:

      • JustFoodForDogs at 25% off
      • Earth Animal – No-Hide up to $3 off
      • Kiwi Kitchens up to $5 off
      • Bayer – Seresto Collars are $5 off
      • And so much more


Events and Headliners

There were more events and activities than ever this year.

      • Brandon McMillian from CBS’s hit show Lucky Dog and Jackson Galaxy from Animal Planet’s My Cat From Hell brought down the house with amazing amphitheater performances.
      • Agility was back, this year with a larger, lure-based course. BAD Disc Dogs was there doing Frisbee demonstrations with their own dogs and teaching classes for attendees. Within just a few minutes of coaching, attendees were able to better aim their Frisbees, allowing their dogs to jump as high as possible.
      • Cover Your K9 was wowed the audience with police K9 demonstrations.
      • The Splash Dogs truck broke down in Texas, so we improvised with 33 kiddie pools for dogs to splash in. It was such a hit we may even bring it back next year!


A Special Thanks to Fair Team

We usually try to avoid bragging about our own team, but for the Pet Fair we’ll make an exception. Keeping it all running was a hard-working, enthusiastic, and downright fun group of people that we are beyond lucky to work with. Over 100 Pet Food Express employees from the stores and our Oakland home office worked tirelessly in 97 degree heat to make sure every two-legged and four-legged attendee had a wonderful time at the fair. Above and beyond doesn’t begin to cover it.

If you'd like to join the PFE team, we're hiring! Click here.

Thank you to everyone who helped us making the pet fair a reality. It is hands-down the highlight of our year. We are already fire up for next year.

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