Seventeen years ago, on April 2, 2008, the Marshfield community mourned the loss of Brittany Zimmermann, a cherished daughter, friend, and compassionate advocate.
In remembrance of her legacy, the Marshfield Area Pet Shelter (MAPS) invites the community to participate in the annual “Paws For Brittany” event on Saturday, May 10, 2025. I spoke with Karen Rau, the Executive Director of the Marshfield Area Pet Shelter, and she discussed the event in more detail.
Again, the event is being held on Saturday, May 10th. For more information and to register for the event, please visit www.marshfieldpetshelter.org/pawsforbrittany.
(AI assisted transcription of the interview by Otter.ai):
Karen: “So yeah, this should be our 12th year. COVID, in 2020, kind of handicapped us from having the event in person, but this was started in 2014 from family and friends reaching out to us, just wanting to know if we’d be interested in having some kind of a walk or memorial for Brittany.”
“She was a huge animal lover, and she was very passionate about rescuing pets, especially cats, she had three of her own, and so once they approached us, we thought that was a great idea and it kind of just was really popular after that. And so this will be like our 12th year of having the “Paws for Brittany” event.”
Riley: “And of course, it is a Walk Run event done in Marshfield at the Wildwood Park. And this year it’ll be held on May 10th. But if people are interested in being a part of it, how do they get signed up? And then, what kind of activities can they expect at the event?”
Karen: “Yes, it’s held at Wildwood Park every year. It’s about a 2.3 mile walk around the upper pond past all the animals at Wildwood Park. We have a website, marsgfieldareapetshelter.org, and it’s under “news and events.” That’s our “Paws for Brittany” page, so people can register online.”
“On our web page, it is $35 registration up until April 23rd and after that, it’s $40. Anybody that registers before April 23rd gets the new event t-shirt. Every year we design a new logo for those t-shirts. S,o we have to have those registrations in early, so that we can order those t-shirts and so, yeah, go to our website at marshfieldareapetshelter.org.
Riley: “And something new that you’ll have this year is a photo booth hosted by Lifeline Event Services. Can you touch on that?”
Karen: “Yeah, they came last year. They had reached out to us earlier in the year asking if there was anything they could participate in. And I thought that the “Paws for Brittany” event would be a really fun time for Ben to set up his photo booth.”
“So, it was really popular. Last year, he sent out photos to everybody and printed them out at the event. People can have pictures taken with their pets and with their kids and it’s just something fun to add to the event.”
Riley: “If, by chance, people would happen to forget to sign up before the actual event comes, could they just come that day and get registered?”
Karen: “Yes, good question. You know, some people do want to wait to see what the weather is going to be like. And every year we kind of cringe, hoping the weather’s great. And every year we’ve been blessed.”
“We think Brittany has something to do with that. But yes, the morning of the event, people come and register, starting at 8am and so we do get a lot of people that do come that morning to register, and that’s perfectly fine.”
Riley:”Is there anything else, anything else you’d like our listeners to know about?”
Karen: “We just really appreciate this event so much. I know that it means the world to the Zimmerman family to see so many people come out and support, you know, Brittany, and I know that they look forward to this every Mother’s Day weekend.”
“And I think it means a lot that people remember her, even though it’s been 17 years since she’s been gone. It means a lot to them. And so we like to make sure that people understand the importance of this event and what it means to the Zimmerman family.”
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