HAMLET – Dozens of canines, accompanied by their owners, converged on Main Street Park Saturday as part of the third annual Wag N’ Walk.

The Wag N’ Walk, which raised money for Operation Fix, featured a variety of canine-centric activities from costume contests, free samples from vendors or just rolling around on the Main Street Park lawn.

“This is our third annual Walk N’ Wag event. This is a great event. All of the proceeds go to Operation Fix, which is a non-profit run by Allison Story,” Hamlet Director of Community Engagement Director Mechelle Preslar said. “We invited the Humane Society of Richmond County, and also invited the Richmond County Animal Shelter. We have money donations because we sold raffle tickets and a pet parade where they paid $10 to be a part of the pet parade.”

Operation Fix is a community outreach program focused on rescuing animals from kill shelters, providing families in need with pet food from their pet pantry and providing pets spaying and neutering at a reduced rate. According to its website, since 2018, Operation Fix of Richmond County provided operations for more than 900 animals. URE Mercantile sponsored the pet supply donations display while Dairy Queen lent a hand by providing pup cups for the event.

“The City of Hamlet has pet-friendly water bowls, the Hamlet Depot and Museum did frisbees, and we had some other vendors like … We really had a lot of sponsors that came out and helped, and vendors that wanted to be a part. This is a fun event for pets, and their owners,” Preslar said.

The Wag N’ Walk also allowed local entrepreneurs to reach a new audience. One in attendance was November Coffey, the owner of Foster’s Fresh Canine Cuisine. Coffey said the Walk N’ Wag, and events like it, account for more than half of her regular customers.

“I am really grateful to Mechelle Preslar and Allison Story with Operation Fix for just arranging this. It’s been so great. So many people come by and say ‘Wow, you have fresh food.’ And we make it affordable it’s 100 percent fresh,” Coffey said.

Preslar said events such as the Walk N’ Wag also bring visitors to downtown Hamlet, as well as visit its restaurants and stores.

“Any time we can bring people – visitors – here, they’re going to look around at the local shops, and maybe discover something they didn’t know that we have in Hamlet … Anytime we bring an event to Hamlet, it benefits the whole community,” Preslar said.