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Animals lovers ready to rock in downtown Riverhead

Riverhead MOve the Animal Shelter
DENISE LUCAS COURTESY PHOTO |  Riverhead Move the Animal Shelter founder Denise Lucas at last year’s ‘Hogs and Hot Rods’ fundraising event.

Members of the Riverhead Move the Animal Shelter nonprofit group are hosting their second annual Hogs and Hot Rods Rock the Shelter fundraiser in downtown Riverhead Sunday.

Event organizer and RMTAS founder Denise Lucas is expecting more than 1,000 attendees to the family-friendly event, which will feature live music from three bands, a motorcycle and car show and more than 40 vendors along the Peconic riverfront.

The nonprofit’s mission is to raise the funds necessary to move the town’s antiquated Youngs Avenue dog shelter, which is near the town landfill, to a new or rebuilt building at a new location.

Ms. Lucas founded RMTAS a year and a half ago after discovering the need for a new municipal shelter in Riverhead.  The organization’s fundraising efforts also led to the opening of the town’s first dog park at the Enterprise Park at Calverton last February.

A second dog park is scheduled to open at Stotzky Park later this month, Ms. Lucas said Friday.

The Henry Pfeifer Community Center is Calverton is being scouted as the new location of the town animal shelter, which is now operated by a nonprofit rescue group North Fork Animal Welfare League.

Ms. Lucas estimates the cost of obtaining and then renovating the building will be hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Overwhelming support from local businesses and residents is helping RMTAS reach its goal, she noted.

East Wind Caterers, the Long Island Aquarium & Exhibition Center in Riverhead, Cliff’s Rendezvous and Binkis Property Management donated prizes for Sunday’s event.

Local bands Gene Casey & the Lone Sharks, Miles to Dayton and WhoareThoseGuys will be performing for free to support the cause.

Live music will begin at noon at Riverhead’s downtown Riverfront where attendees can purchase raffle tickets for $5.

T-shirts and snacks will also be available for purchase. All of the proceeds will benefit the ongoing fundraising efforts for the new shelter.

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