The idea for Peckham Pet-Tastic started incubating during a visit Rachael House made To New York in 2001. An encounter with Macy's Pet-Acular, an annual Easter Bonnet parade for pets, set the wheels in motion.

Rachael was excited by the participant's creativity, touched by their generosity and moved by the spirit of the event; a temporary community of interest had been created in front of the famous Macy's department store.   As she watched, tears of joyous laughter in her eyes, Rachael said to her friend Caro Childs "I'd like to do this in Peckham."

On May 1st 2004 the first Peckham Pet-Tastic was held in Peckham Square. Rachael had spent some time researching dogs and became interested in their relationship to humans and the way people assign human characteristics to their pets. This involved dressing up as a dog; making dog head sculptures; drawing dogs; making dog costumes and more, all of which fed into the Peckham Pet-Tastic event.

The day was so enjoyable that Rachael decided to do it again on May 28th 2005. This time Jon Bishop (a fellow Central St. Martin's graduate) joined the dogs with his game 'Fetch Stretch'. Jon has worked for several summer seasons in Mallorca, entertaining and DJing. This has encouraged him in making art that is fun, universal and community based. Live music was provided by John Carson and friends, featuring John Say on percussion, with Conor Kelly (guitar)and John Kindness(banjo) on backing tracks.

Watch this space for Peckham Pet-Tastic 3, any ideas; offers of help or sponsorship are extremely welcome.

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