‘Yappy Hour’ 2019 finale announced for Friday, Dec. 20, at ViNoVa on Main Street

“Yappy Hour”, a long-running weekly fundraiser for Front Royal’s Julia Wagner Animal Shelter, will celebrate the holidays on Friday, December 20, at ViNoVa Tapas Bar and Restaurant, 124 East Main, 5-7 p.m.; and launch a-new January 3, 2020, to continue its weekly fete for the animals.

The re-introduction of “Yappy Hour” last September – from 2010 it ran for two years each Friday at the same location under a different name, raising some $12,000 for the shelter – has returned more than $1,500 to the shelter and provided hours of added enjoyment to those frequenting the new and unique downtown hostelry.

Shelter Executive Director Meghan Bowers said the shelter would provide a handsome, handmade bird feeder for “silent auction” this Friday, along with other fundraising activities which have proved popular among restaurant customers the past three months.

Humane Society of Warren County (HSWC) President Ellen Aders and members of her board of directors have been active in hosting the weekly event. Restaurant owners Rachel Failmezger and Chef Chris Kenworthy generously dedicate a percentage of the evenings’ “take” to HSWC.

Rachel’s husband Christian, operator of nearby PaveMint Tap and Smokehouse, and this writer, a past president of HSWC, initiated the first edition of “Yappy Hour” in Front Royal in the old Vino e Formaggio wine bar in 2010.

Wagner Shelter dog and cats are looking for homes this holiday season – and they make NICE presents

Updating recent activities of the animal shelter, Bowers, who this month completed her first year at the helm, announced the “holiday appeal” for funds netted $10,000. She said the next “fun” activity would be a “polar plunge” into the chill waters of the Shenandoah River February 1.

Over Christmas, some 100 animals including 80 cats and 20 dogs, will be resident at the shelter. Often, the skeleton staff attending the animals over the holiday will bring in Christmas goodies for the homeless animals, along with their food and necessary medications, Bowers said.