Animal lovers put on your goggles because the fur is about to fly.

Chris Schubert, Pike Animal Shelter board member, said last year’s Fur Fest was so much fun that many have indicated they want to be there when the fur starts to fly this year.

The first fur to fly will be at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 10 at the Troy Sportsplex entertainment room. Hotdogs and soft drinks will be furnished and everyone is invited to share in a time of food, fun and fellowship while working for a good cause.

“This will be our organizational meeting for another great Fur Fest,” Schubert said. “We want to invite everybody to be a part of the fun of planning this event. We’re going to do all the things that made the Fur Fest special last year and then we’re going to make it even better this year.”

The 2007 Fur Fest was an even greater success than anyone had dared to imagine.

“With it being the first event of this type, we really didn’t know what to expect,” Schubert said. “We would have been happy with 20 to 30 people showing up but we had about 300. It was an incredible event.”

The Fur Fest was, of course, a pet-friendly event and pet owners brought their dogs and cats and their kids and, Schubert said everyone had a good time.

“We had a climbing wall, a baseball throwing contest and different games and activities, food and entertainment,” Schubert said. “Of course, we had to suffer through the mechanics of an event like this but we learned a lot so this year’s Fur Fest will be even better.”

The organizational meeting on Wednesday night will be an opportunity to get involved with the Fur Fest when the first fur flies. It will also be an opportunity to explore fundraising ideas for the Pike Animal Shelter on the Henderson Highway.

“Fundraising is what the Fur Fest is all about and that’s what the Pike Animal Shelter is all about right now,” Schubert said. “We are in the process of raising funds for a state-of-the-art animal shelter to be built on shelter property on the Henderson Highway. At the present time, we have a little more than $37,000 toward the $385,000-plus that we need to build the shelter that we have planned.”

Schubert said the Pike Animal Shelter is exploring grants and other fund raising options.

“The Pike Animal Shelter Fur Fest organizational meeting Wednesday night will be an opportunity to hear all of the great fundraising ideas and contribute your own ideas and join in on your favorite activity,” Schubert said. “We also invite and welcome new members.”

Individual Pike Animal Shelter memberships are $25 and sponsor memberships are $250.

Founding memberships are also available for $100.

An orange “construction” T-shirt comes with each founding membership.