The Hall County Animal Shelter has a celebration full of family fun planned for Saturday to mark the grand opening of the new facility.

In addition to dog demonstrations and activities for children from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m., the shelter also will be offering tours of the new building and conducting pet adoptions. Hot dogs, hamburgers and ice cream will be served following a noon ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The shelter, located at 1688 Barber Road off Calvary Church Road, has cats and dogs available for adoption.

When animals arrive at the Hall County Shelter, they first are held in an intake area where they are separated by gender and species while they wait for examination by staff and in-house veterinarian Meghan Seabolt.

Once the animals receive a clean bill of health and are deemed suitable for adoption, they are sent to the adoption area. Adult dogs are separated into two rooms, one for males and one for females.

The rooms house the dogs in two-sided cages made by a company called T-Kennel that use a sanitation system that helps prevent odor and illness, Ledford said. There are similar rooms for cats, kittens and puppies as well.

Gwen Trimmer came from the Humane Society to work as the adoption specialist for the Hall County Animal Shelter. Trimmer will talk to people interested in adopting a pet and help them find the right pet.

Adoptions are $65, which includes spaying or neutering, shots, deworming and combo test for cats. A veterinarian is on staff to perform spay and neuter surgeries and any treatments necessary for the animals.

The new, state-of-the-art animal shelter opened to the public Oct. 15, after months of delays due to rainy weather that halted construction.

Hall County was originally set to separate from the renamed Humane Society of Northeast Georgia and open its own shelter in July.