Pet Parade on Olvera Street

Today’s Blessing of the Animals, Olvera Street’s most festive day of the year, is held on the Saturday before Easter as sort of an Easter Parade for pets, when Fidos and Felixes are groomed to a fare-thee-well.

You’ll need a pet to take part in the paseo around the plaza, past the Roman Catholic priest who blesses each animal with a quick sprinkle of holy water. But petless families can enjoy mingling with animals and their owners as they line up before and after the blessing.

The blessing begins at 2 p.m. under a huge shade tree but people and pets start arriving around noon.

Pets of all persuasions are welcome. Families bring caged birds, fish, mice, hamsters, snakes, turtles. If you can carry it--or, in some cases, pull it--past the podium, you can line up. The most colorful entries are the flower-bedecked cows and horses and the wagon laden with chickens and goats that arrives every year.

Olvera Street shops and restaurants will be open. Bringing a pet poses a logistical problem when it’s time to eat since animals are not allowed in restaurants, but if pets can be secured, restaurants with patios provide a compromise.