A rainy day didn't stop people from heading out to Island Park to support the Portage Animal Welfare Society's Pawlooza in the Park yesterday.

PAWS' Fundraiser Director Liz Anderson was thrilled with the support through the bad weather.

"No matter what mother nature throws at us we were so happy to see people come out. We still got the pledges too, a very rough count including all the corporate sponsors we got before coming into the event, we're probably just short of $5,000 that was raised today. So again, we couldn't have done any of that without the huge support from businesses, citizens, and everybody pulling together."

Kara Swidnicki brought in the most pledges and took home a gift bag and prize at the end of the day. She says PAWS is an important group in Portage.

Swidnicki and her dog at the Pawlooza in the Park

"They are. Even though we didn't adopt our dog from PAWS, we got her from another rescue in Winnipeg, and it's a great cause. They're rescuing animals for them to adopt into their forever homes."

PAWS has a few events coming up in October. An adoptathon around the middle of the month, and their Fur Ball toward the end of October.