Mount Pleasant Animal Shelter's Pet Palooza & Food Truck Festival returns to the Livingston Gazebo on Saturday, September 19, 2026, bringing food trucks, DJ music, adoptable animals, and a canine agility course to the township's civic center for a family-friendly afternoon. The event runs from noon to 6 p.m. at 7 Civic Center Road, and organizers are inviting the community to spend the day with local vendors, a children's play area, and pets looking for homes.
The gathering marks the sixth annual edition of Pet Palooza, according to New Jersey Hills. The festival relocated its primary venue from East Hanover to the Livingston Gazebo starting with its fifth annual event in September 2025, as reported by East Hanover Patch. That move gave the shelter expanded space for food trucks and vendor booths while tapping into a municipal venue that regularly hosts high-profile township gatherings.
Ticket Prices Fund Shelter Medical Care
Admission is $7 for general attendees, $4 for senior citizens, and free for children under 10, with proceeds going directly toward animal care, per the Patch listing. Those ticket sales, along with vendor fees, help cover food and medical expenses for animals cycling through the shelter's care throughout the year.
Mount Pleasant Animal Shelter is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, no-kill rescue facility headquartered at 194 Route 10 West in East Hanover that has operated for more than 50 years, according to Hoboken Girl. The shelter assists more than 1,000 homeless, neglected, or at-risk animals each year through adoptions, foster networks, and medical care, the Patch report notes, and Pet Palooza brings those efforts into a community setting.
Therapy Animals, Fashion Show, and Vendor Booths
Beyond the agility course and adoptable animals, the festival features interactive programming including an informational table from Creature Comfort Pet Therapy, a pet fashion show, and command contests, according to the Patch listing. Local vendor booths round out the day alongside the children's play area and DJ-driven music that New Jersey Hills describes as part of the festival's signature atmosphere.
Beyond the festival, Pilots To The Rescue conducts animal transport missions, according to Pilots To The Rescue.
Community Partnerships Sustain Year-Round Work
Mount Pleasant Animal Shelter also appears among the community partners for Spectrum360's Academy360 Upper School; Spectrum360 describes such partners as supporting life skills and job experience. The shelter also has community partnerships that support its nonprofit work.
The Livingston Gazebo itself provides a public venue for township community events. That infrastructure gives non-profits like Mount Pleasant Animal Shelter a public venue capable of accommodating the crowds, food trucks, and vendor booths that Pet Palooza has grown to include since its move from East Hanover.
Licensed animal shelters across New Jersey voluntarily submit annual shelter and pound reports to the New Jersey Department of Health, tracking statewide trends in impoundment, adoption rates, owner surrenders, and stray intakes, according to NJ Animal Observer. That statewide data collection helps officials monitor animal welfare trends, while Mount Pleasant continues its work as an independent shelter.
