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Pet owners, others gather to honor all types of pets, wildlife
WARREN
All about animals art show
Gallery
Sydney Votino loves birds.
“I want to fly with them, and they are pretty,” explained Sydney, 10, of Howland.
She brought her green cheek conure talking parrot to Saturday’s All About Animals Art Show and Celebration in Courthouse Square in downtown Warren.
Her parrot, Zoomie, wearing a harness and leash tether, has “night, night” and several other words in its vocabulary and jumps up and down on command – when it is in the mood.
The bird, which Sydney said flies fast around the house, also lets her mom, Melissa Votino, who also brought her son, Dominic, 6, to the event, know when it is time to change its water and food by saying “eat.”
All About Animals, which ran from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, was sponsored by the Power of the Arts and the Fine Arts Council of Trumbull County and was organized by Kari Crawford of Champion.
“It was my idea to do something at which people could celebrate animals of all types,” said Crawford, who has a symbiotic relationship with her horse, Commander, an off-the-track thoroughbred, who seemed to sense Crawford’s brain cancer before it was diagnosed in December 2010.
“He used to nuzzle my head where the tumor was,” she said.
Now, after two brain surgeries, Crawford is in remission and Commander no longer nuzzles her head.
“Commander is my inspiration and my therapy horse,” she said, and led to the naming of her business, Revival of My Brain Art, which features photographs of things and places in nature.
Among the educational groups represented Saturday was Canine Companions for Independence Northern Ohio Chapter, which raises and does basic training of potential service dogs.
After about 18 months, the labrador/golden retriever-mix canines are sent to the organization’s parent organization in Delaware, Ohio, where their service- dog training is completed, said John Phillips of Kinsman, one of the group’s local volunteers.
Crawford said the reason she organized Saturday’s event was to raise awareness about Warren as a site for such events and to celebrate animals.
It included several educational sessions about household pets and wildlife, such as one by Birds in Flight Sanctuary of Trumbull County, in addition to arts-and-crafts vendors.
She described the event as a “time to celebrate the magnificence of those that make us smile and warm out hearts – animals! From big to small, they all add meaning to our existence on this planet.”