Goldie Palooza
ABOUT US
GOLDIE PALOOZAS’ journey began through social media’s Instagram. A family in the South Bay area started a community they named “SoCal Golden Retriever Buddies” after meeting some Instagram followers of their beloved Hugo Maxwell. The first meet up occurred on September 23rd, 2016, at Rosie’s Dog Beach located in Long Beach. The families experienced such a fantastic “Golden vibe” that they vowed to share and expand this Golden community. There was no membership fee, and everyone was welcomed to join varied activities such as beach fun, weekly walks, pool pawty, weekend hikes, road trips, paddle boarding, and sea kayaking. Special interest classes such as Pet CPR/First Aid, Rattlesnake Avoidance Training, and Dog Sports were annually planned. They also participated in a Chinese New Year Parade in downtown LA and a Christmas Parade in Long Beach.
To celebrate the first anniversary of their community, a festival named “Goldie Palooza” was created. They agreed that all the proceeds from this event would benefit Golden Retriever rescues. From day one, the festival is run 100% by volunteers.
The first Goldie Palooza took place in the fall of 2017 in Huntington Beach, California. An unexpected 350 golden retrievers were counted that day breaking the “World Record” held by The Guisachan Gathering in Scotland.
In 2018, 681 golden retrievers, met for the second time in Huntington Beach making it the 3rd largest gathering in the World after Golden, Colorado and Melbourne, Australia (whose event was inspired by Goldie Palooza). The event was published in numerous magazines such as People Magazine, Los Angeles Times and London Times. Once again, KTLA did a segment for their afternoon news.
The festival, a worldwide renowned event, took a little break after 2018 which was much needed by all within the organization “committee”. The unexpected World pandemic made this break a lot longer. We had to postpone two times. But the team who worked so hard (with the support by all involved) never gave up! Now, Goldie Palooza takes place in a beautiful private property in Silverado, California. It is bigger AND BETTER each time: new venue, new activities (Doga, Fast Cat, Scent work, AKC Tricks testing, Rattlesnake Avoidance Training, Pet CPR/1st Aid training), more sponsors, more vendors, special guests’ appearance by LA RAMS Cheerleaders in 2022 and LA GALAXY Squad in 2023, DJ, food trucks, lots and lots of raffles to win, the cutest costumes contest...
Because of its never ending growing fans, Goldie Palooza 5th edition (2024) had to move further down the canyon to a bigger private venue. People from all around the World (Brazil, Mexico, Scotland) and the States (from New York and Florida to Colorado and Texas, Washington and Southern California) became the most successful golden retriever fundraiser/festival in the World with 1,310 golden retrievers attending the event (previous unofficial record held by Goldrush in Australia) and a proceed total of $61,334.43 which makes a grand total donation since the 1st edition of $157,430.95.
Goldie Palooza Festival volunteers are proud to have helped the following non-profit organizations since 2017: Southern California Golden Retriever Rescue, Golden Retriever Club of Greater Los Angeles, Golden Retriever Acres Senior Sanctuary (Texas), Golden Retriever Rescue of Puerto Rico, Golden Bond Rescue (Oregon/Washington), and in addition North Valley Animal Disaster Group, Ventura County Animal Services.
Let’s continue to paint the World Golden!!!!!
GOLDIE PALOOZA’S JOURNEY
