Dogs will be making a splash at Greenport Harbor Brewing Company (42155 Main Road, Peconic, 631-477-1100) this month, putting the first dent in the newly established Giving Tank.
On May 16 and 17 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., pups will be participating in the Dog Dock Diving contest, back where it all started a decade ago.
“All of us as owners of the brewery are also dog lovers,” says co-founder Rich Vandenburgh. “They’re a really important part of each of our families.”
As a dog-friendly facility, the Peconic brewery location is typically packed with furry friends. “Sometimes we have as many dogs at the brewery as we do people,” says Vandenburgh.
The event, where dogs vie for titles in categories like extreme vertical and speed retrieval, is the first of Greenport Harbor Brewing Company’s charitable celebrations under their new 501(c)3, the Giving Tank.
The name for this new sector of the company was inspired by their early days, when as a new business they couldn’t afford to make big donations so they’d donate what they had lots of from what they called the “giving tank” — beer!
“It allows us to draw more clear lines in terms of the ability to partner as an internal branch of what the brewery does with this giving tank setup,” says Vandenburgh. “That way we’ll be able to amplify donations, accept individual donations, things that we couldn’t do before that weren’t necessarily tax deductible or didn’t have any of those advantages for people.”
This event’s proceeds will go toward supporting the North Fork Animal Welfare League‘s no-kill shelter.
In the past, Greenport Harbor Brewing Company has raised funds for Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital, Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Back to the Bays program, CAST, the East End Seaport Museum and other local organizations.
“We’ve always had these four pillars at the brewery that we’ve followed in supporting our community,” says Vandenburgh. “That’s local, kids, cancer and supporting animals. We had been making donations, giving things away and raising money, not necessarily maximizing the impact that we could have,” says Vandenburgh.
At Dog Dock Diving weekend, attendees can expect lots of food, drinks and pet-centric pop-ups from Southold Agway, boutique pet craft businesses and East End Pet ER that will be offering information, education and samples to satisfy your four-legged friends.
Get tickets to the event and register your pets here. Tickets are $25 at the door and $20 online with an option to make an additional donation to the Giving Tank.
