Mark your calendars: South Bay's popular "blessing of the animals" events coming up

Events and services organized around blessings for household pets have grown in popularity over the past few years.

Many of this year's events are planned for Saturday, Oct. 2. Among them is the second annual "Blessing God's Creatures" festival at First Lutheran Church and School (10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 2900 W. Carson St., Torrance).

Organizers say they expect about 500 animal lovers to attend the event that includes adoption booths, demonstrations, a petting zoo, pony rides and pet vendors.

At 4 p.m. on Oct. 3, St. Peter's Episcopal Church in San Pedro (1648 W. Ninth St.) will hold its animal blessing, handing out goodie bags filled with pet treats. A representative from a local animal clinic also will be on hand to provide free pet care advice and answer questions.

We'll post a full list of the upcoming events soon (they'll also be listed in the Daily Breeze -- here's a preliminary list, but more will be included in another round-up next week).

All kinds of animals show up for these ceremonies now, from sloths to zebras to horses.

And I just love this photo below that I saw today at the Orland Sentinel's animal blog, Animal Crazy.

In 2005, the Rev. Blake Rambo brought his cat, George Harrison, and his parrot, Toby, for the blessing event at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in New Smyma Beach, Fla.

I don't know, but from the look on that cat's face, I wouldn't exactly trust George Harrison to be alone with Mr. Toby too many times.

I've seen that look before. What do you think he's thinking?

Have any experiences (or photos) you can share with our readers about attending one of these events? Or one in particular you'd like to plug that's upcoming? Leave a comment or email me at donna.littlejohn@dailybreeze.com.