Update: PETA’s Inaugural Eve Dog-Friendly Drive-In Goes Virtual

Event Will Allow the World to Watch—and Adults Who Booked a Car Spot Will Get a Maker’s Mark 46 Hot Toddy Kit

For Immediate Release:
January 18, 2021

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Washington –

With what D.C. Police Chief Robert Contee has described as “a major security threat” on the eve of President-Elect Biden’s inauguration, PETA has reluctantly canceled its Inaugural Eve “Dogs Welcome” Drive-in Party /at Union Market to honor First Dog Major and upcoming animal protective legislation—but it’s not going away: The party will now be online for everyone to enjoy!

Visitors to PETA’s blog can join the group in celebrating animals and their champions in Congress and welcoming Major, the first “first dog” (FIDO) to be adopted from an animal shelter. Hosted by Edward James Olmos and former HLN host Jane Velez-Mitchell, the online event will feature appearances from members of Congress who have helped PETA advance animal protection, stories of past FIDOs and the presidents who loved them, and Tony Award–winning Broadway star Beth Leavel’s musical tribute to Major Biden, which pokes lighthearted fun at the president-elect for fracturing his ankle in November while playing with the dog: “If you take a bad fall / you’ll be wearing a boot / when you play with your rescue dog!”

There will even be a signature drink: PETA will arrange for “doggie bags” packed with everything needed to make a vegan hot toddy—including donated bottles of oak-finished Maker’s Mark 46 bourbon (for the 46^th POTUS), “bee-free” honey, cinnamon syrup, and even a lemon—to be delivered to the guests (21 and older, of course) from the 100 cars that had secured a spot at the drive-in event.

“PETA will still celebrate new opportunities to push for stronger protections for those Americans who aren’t lucky enough to be born human,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “Our country may be politically divided, but we can unite to advocate for basic animal rights.”

PETA—whose motto reads, “Animals are not ours to experiment on, eat, wear, use for entertainment, or abuse in any other way”—opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.