Crack Up For A Cause On April’s Fool Day With J.J. Boyd, Paul Corrigan, Mike Keegan, And Hilary Schwartz

On Saturday, April 1, after you’re done with all your hilarious April’s Fool Day shenanigans, join North Fork Animal Welfare League for its Fourth Annual Comedy Night at the Vail-Leavitt Music Hall in Riverhead. LaughNYC is producing the sidesplittingly event that will feature J.J Boyd – who has opened for Kevin James and Ray Romano – Paul Corrigan, Mike Keegan, and Hilary Schwartz.

Proceeds from this year’s Comedy Night will support the League’s efforts of renovating the Henry Pfeifer Community Center into a new state-of-the-art animal shelter for the needy and homeless animals of Riverhead Town.

“North Fork Animal Welfare League has done a wonderful job to create a warm and inviting animal shelter for the Town of Riverhead,” noted Riverhead Supervisor Sean Walter. “Now that the Town has identified municipal property that is better suited for a shelter, NFAWL will still need financial support to create a top-notch facility for homeless pets in the Town of Riverhead.”

North Fork Animal Welfare League, which is based in Southold, has been running The Riverhead Town Shelter since 2013. The Shelter is currently housed in a decades old building situated next to a stinky garbage dump and waste processing plant. Unfortunately the building is in desperate need of many improvements. Along with being poorly lit and ventilated, it does not have the proper space for the animals that reside there or staff, volunteers and visitors. It has no place the animals can exercise or socialize with other shelter residents, and safety is a concern when dogs are brought outside for a walk. It also lacks a space for humane education or training volunteers. Although The League has made many upgrades and repairs since taking over the Shelter, the current location will never be up to par with The League’s standards for the adoptees.

The Shelter’s replacement will be a model shelter that has a bright, airy and welcoming energy efficient design. It will be clean, roomy and state-of-the-art. Highlights will include 21 adoption floor kennels for dogs, room for group housing and individual spaces for cats, an inviting space for families to meet shelter pets, a place where dog trainers can train the shelter residents, a secure surrounding where dogs can be walked, the potential to grow animal welfare related services, a space for staff and volunteers, orientation classes, and supply storage, adequate parking, a serene area for exterior exercise pens, and a peaceful temporary home for shelter residents to await adoption. For more information on the new shelter, visit nfawl.org.

Tickets to the Fourth Annual Comedy Night are $40. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., and the show starts at 8 p.m. Attendees will receive a complimentary glass of beer or wine with their receipt from a Riverhead restaurant on Saturday, April 1.

Founded back in the early 1960s, North Fork Animal Welfare League was among the first New York State not-for-profit organizations and the original Humane Organization on Long Island to contract with a town. Over the past 50 years, the nonprofit has provided North Fork animals in need with shelter, nourishment, and refuge. They offer many programs, such as community educational clinics, spay and neuter clinics, microchip clinics, and Feral cat spay and Neuter programs, and have dog control officers on hand 24 hours a day.

Vail-Leavitt Music Hall is located at 18 Peconic Avenue in Riverhead. For Comedy Night tickets, visit www.eventbrite.com.