Come celebrate the dog days of summer every Monday on the Essex Steam Train & Riverboat! Each week, we’re donating $1 from every ticket sale on our regular daytime Train and Train & Boat excursions to a different local animal rescue organization. Help us give back to the community while you enjoy a day of fun for the whole family!

PLEASE NOTE: Due to our food license, NO animals will be allowed at the station, on the train, or on the boat on these days (with the exception of qualified service animals.)

Schedule

June 17^th & July 22^nd – Homeward Bound, Chester, CT
June 24^th & July 29^th – Valley Shore Animal Welfare League, Westbrook, CT
July 1^st & August 5^th – Connecticut Humane Society, Newington, CT
July 8^th & August 12^th – Double Dog Rescue, Unionville, CT
July 15^th & August 19^th – Forgotten Felines, Westbrook, CT

Homeward Bound is committed to finding homes for the thousands of dogs dying in kill shelters across the country every year. They do this by creating adoption events for rescues and shelters to bring their dogs, securing locations, supplying volunteers, and promoting the events and the dogs.

Valley Shore Animal Welfare League was founded in 1972 by a group of women who saw an increasing need for animal-oriented programs along the shoreline of Connecticut. The League now owns and operates a no-kill shelter that serves as an adoption facility for dogs and cats.

The Connecticut Humane Society is the oldest and most comprehensive animal welfare organization in the state and helps thousands of pets every year. They envision a Connecticut where each companion animal finds a permanent, compassionate home, where communities are enriched by the special bond between people and animals, and where animal cruelty no longer exists.

Double Dog Rescue was founded in 2006 by sisters Chey Ottoson and Laurie Ottoson Perotti in an effort to help the overpopulation of dogs in the South. The group started with eight volunteers and now has a team of over 100. They do not operate as a physical shelter, but instead act as the middlemen to facilitate getting dogs from shelters and into a loving home.

Forgotten Felines is a private, all-volunteer organization in Westbrook, CT, serving ten towns along the Connecticut River and shoreline. They rescue homeless cats and kittens, care for them in their no-kill shelter, and work to find them loving, adoptive homes.