NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Every month, a group of golden retrievers and their owners gather in Nashville's 12 South neighborhood for a stroll — and the event is drawing a crowd.
The 12 South Golden Hour is a monthly meetup organized by Laura Shoopman, who moved to the neighborhood in April 2025 and quickly noticed something about her surroundings.
"I moved to 12 South in April of 2025 and I had Bella for a little while and really just thought there's a golden retriever on every corner," Shoopman said. "We would go out for walks and see three to five on a 30 minute walk. It felt like there was a golden retriever on every corner."
The group gathers for a neighborhood walk, ending at Sevier Park, and picks up new participants, and plenty of attention, along the way.
"We were walking by like how are so many?" one attendee said. "More and more goldens!"
Shoopman said the event is about more than just dogs.
"So I really wanted to bring the community together. I feel like every time I bring Bella out, people want to pet on her, love on her, and then you see multiple together and that's always really cute," Shoopman said.
She said her inspiration for building community came from her mother, who started a neighborhood food drive using a little red wagon — an effort that eventually grew to fill an entire tractor trailer.
Attendee Holly Horncastle brought her golden retriever, Lola, to the meetup.
"And as a breed, like one of the reasons I got Lola is to do some therapy work," Horncastle said. "And she turned out to be a really great tempered dog for therapy."
"They're such unconditional lovers," Horncastle added,
The next 12 South Golden Hour meet-up is scheduled for March 14 in front of Bongo Java on Belmont Boulevard.
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