Blessing the Pets at Emanuel in Woodhaven

Emanuel Church of Christ is a beautiful church with a long, interesting history in Woodhaven -- originally, it sat in the middle of what is now Woodhaven Boulevard.  Back then, the Boulevard was just one lane -- the service road on the West side of the Boulevard.  During the 1930's, when they decided to widen Woodhaven Boulevard, they had to tear down Emanuel Church -- but the city paid to have a new one built -- and in 1939 the current edifice was opened on 91st Avenue and Woodhaven Boulevard.

Each and every year, Emanuel has a Blessing of the Pets -- we stumbled upon this even by accident back in 2009 (read about it here) -- and we were there again last year (read about it here).   So this marks our 3rd time covering the Blessing of the Pets at Emanuel and this year's event was the best we've seen thus far -- the weather was beautiful and there was a good crowd -- and we saw a lot of familiar faces (of the 2 and 4 legged variety).  We saw Zoe (bottom, left) again -- and we met Coco for the first time (bottom right).

This is a great event for an animal lover -- and it's a great place to speak with people because everyone loves to speak about their pets.  Families were in attendance, carrying their pets --

Lots of dogs this year -- dogs are easier to bring, I guess -- and they were all happy to see each other.  There were lots of dogs barking, saying hello to each other, and lots of tails wagging!

Here is a video we shot of the morning -- if you have pets, be sure to come out next year, with or without your pet --

Check out the beautiful Sphinx cat -- you don't see many of them! 

Here's a rabbit that was rescued up near the Forest Park Golf Course --

This little pup is named Joy and we met her for the first time last year.  She's 13 now and has a few health issues -- what a lucky pup to have her own stroller!

Here is a beautiful cat -- she's so calm and peaceful.  Keep in mind, we're all standing out on Woodhaven Boulevard!  It's noisy -- but she handled it in stride.

Everywhere you looked there was a friendly face!

Pastor Toni Walrond led the group in a prayer and a chorus of "All Things Bright and Beautiful" --

The pets were then carried up the steps and given a special blessing --

This is one of those great events that Woodhaven does so well --it has a real small-town feel to it. 

Here's a recently rescued kitten -- Betsy -- is she not adorable?

Here's Joy getting blessed -- what a sweet picture!

And here's Betsy (with the human parents she adopted) getting a blessing --

Here is April -- her partner Jason was under the weather -- she was bought at the Woodhaven Street Fair 13 or 14 years ago.

This was a great, friendly event -- put on by a real nice bunch of people -- good friends to the Woodhaven community.

Find out more about Emanuel Church by clicking here.  Hope to see you at next year's Blessing of the Pets!

 

If you have any comments, or would like to suggest other projects, drop us a line at info@projectwoodhaven.com or projectwoodhaven@aol.com.  

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Photos by Joey Wendell