Fifteen Rescues Bring Their Dogs to Liberty Station on November 21, and It's Free

Overview

The Doggie Street Festival comes to NTC Park at Liberty Station on Saturday, November 21, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Admission is free.

**Fifteen rescues will be there with animals, and the organisers describe the event as the "west's largest adopt-a-thon and pet celebration."

The line on their own site that makes the case better than anything we could write:

"many hundreds of dogs & cats have gone home with new families on Festival Day."

That's the whole point of the day. It isn't a trade show with a rescue tent at the back — it's an adoption event with a festival built around it.

And they want you to bring your own dog. Their instruction, in caps: "BRING YOUR FRIENDLY DOG."

Here's the one piece of planning advice worth giving.

If you're going to meet animals, go early.

Five hours sounds like a lot, but adoptable dogs move — and the ones who are going to be adopted on a Saturday are generally met in the first two hours. If you're seriously looking, be there at ten. If you're bringing your own dog for a walk around, mid-afternoon is calmer.

The Rescues

Fifteen are listed as attending:

A New Life Rescue · Amazing Strays · Baja Paws Rescue · Banana's Little CAT Rescue · County of San Diego Animal Services · Friends of Cats Rescue · Labrador & Friends Dog Rescue · Paws 4 Thought · Paws of Coronado · Rescue Fenix · Ruger's Rescue · San Diego Humane Society · Southern California Golden Retriever Rescue · Soulmate Animal Rescue · The Barking Lot

That's a genuinely broad list — county animal services and the Humane Society alongside small independents, two cat-specific rescues, and breed-specific groups for Labradors and golden retrievers. If you've been looking for a particular kind of dog, several of these only show up at events like this.

There's also an auction, with prizes provided by Camp Bow Wow, MichiSaurio and Tell Tail Veterinary Urgent Care.

How to Go

• When: Saturday, November 21, 2026, 10 a.m.–3 p.m.
• Where: NTC Park, Liberty Station, San Diego, CA 92106
• Admission: free
• Dogs: welcome — their words, "bring your friendly dog"
• Organiser: founded and run by Jude Artenstein, a San Diego-based independent filmmaker
• Contact: doggiestreet@gmail.com

Good to Know

• It's free, and so is NTC Park.
• Go at ten if you're adopting. The animals that go home go home early.
• Bring your dog — they ask you to. (See the note below on what they don't publish about this.)
• Bring water and a bowl. It's a grass park with no shade to speak of, and November in San Diego can still be 75 degrees.
• Liberty Station has parking, and the park sits in the middle of it — this is one of the easier venues in the city.
• Make a morning of it. Liberty Public Market is a two-minute walk, and so is the Hodad's end of Point Loma.
• If you're bringing a dog, standard event practice applies: short leash, current vaccinations, and don't bring one who doesn't like crowds.

Why It's Worth It

There are a lot of pet festivals. This one is organised around getting animals out of kennels on a specific Saturday, and fifteen rescues turning up in one park is a serious amount of coordination for a free event.

It's also a good day even if you're not adopting. NTC Park in late November, a few thousand people, everyone's dog on the grass, and fifteen rescues' worth of volunteers who would love to tell you about their animals.

Free, five hours, and the Liberty Station parking actually works.

One scheduling note: the Japanese Friendship Garden's handmade holiday market runs the same day in Balboa Park, ten until four. The two are about fifteen minutes apart — dogs in the morning, Christmas shopping in the afternoon is a very doable Saturday.

For more things worth doing, browse our events calendar.

Frequently Asked Questions

When is the Doggie Street Festival? Saturday, November 21, 2026, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Where is it? NTC Park at Liberty Station, San Diego, CA 92106.

How much does it cost? Nothing — admission is free.

Can I bring my dog? Yes. The organisers specifically ask you to bring your friendly dog.

Are there leash or vaccination requirements? None are published on the festival's website. Standard practice at events like this is a short leash and current vaccinations, and we'd follow that regardless.

How many rescues attend? Fifteen are listed for the San Diego event, including San Diego Humane Society and County of San Diego Animal Services.

Can I actually adopt on the day? The organisers say "many hundreds of dogs & cats have gone home with new families on Festival Day." Individual rescues set their own adoption processes, so ask the group you're interested in.

Who runs it? Jude Artenstein, a San Diego-based independent filmmaker, is the founder and organiser.

Is there a Los Angeles event? Not on the current schedule. The festival's site lists San Diego, Phoenix and Scottsdale.