The Pride of Hillcrest is something I’d never been to before, but I learned quickly: it’s one big party! This yearly festival & parade is held in the Hillcrest neighborhood of San Diego, and I absolutely loved the happy, joyous atmosphere of the whole weekend!

Fido & Co., Hilcrest’s “canine country club”, invited me to photograph the event, and I’m so glad they did! It was so much fun to hang out with their members and enjoy the festivities! On Friday night, the band D’Nile took the stage in front of Fido & Co. and played long into the night – and you should have seen all the people that came up and started dancing! Saturday morning was the parade, and my gosh, people flocked to Fido & Co. to watch it all. (I suppose it could have had something to do with the bottomless mimosas they were serving…)

Take a look!

They decked out the whole building for the event! 

The event was a perfect opportunity to collect proceeds for charity, and the recipient was Ferdinand’s Familia, San Diego’s only all-species rescue! I was talking to one of the volunteers, and they said they got a call a couple of weeks ago for a stray llama in Chula Vista. Um… what??? Ferdinand’s Familia has stables & facilities in Imperial City and they rescue everything from cats & dogs to goats & horses! What a great choice for a charity to support.

D’Nile was awesome!

Soooo much dancing…

How cute is Gabi (the pug) joining the fun?!

I decided to bring out my fisheye lens for a few photos, too…

Saturday morning! This picture is misleading, because I took it before FIdo & Co. got PACKED! There were easily 3-4 times as many people there by the time the parade started.

Karla & Lisa, the owners of Fido & Co., pose in front of the big peace flag in the lobby! (love these two!)

Dogs attended the festivities… obviously! :) That’s Gabi the pug & Ruby the yorkie.

Gabi donned a pink tutu for Saturday… so. perfect. Who doesn’t love pugs & tutus? You can see how everyone was loving her in the photo on the left!

More love for sweet Gabi…

These boys got plenty of attention too! I don’t know their names, but aren’t they handsome?

Haha! Everyone laughed when this dog used his brother as a head-rest! And this is Patrick the Boston terrier, who loved the camera…

And then the parade began!

Sadly, I couldn’t stay for the parade – some extended family came into town –  but if it was anything like the pre=parade party, I’m sure it was a BALL!

Thank you, Fido & Co., for inviting me to the event! I had a great time and I’m already excited for next year. :)

Tags: pet photography, pets, photography, San Diego, San Diego Dog Photographer