The sixth annual Barkin’ in the Park brought man and man’s best friend together for an event hosted by the Humane Society of Searcy.
“It was a lot of fun just to see all the different kind of dogs in their cute little costumes,” said sophomore Alexa Cook.
The event featured dog contests, veterinarian consultations, free nail trimming, and other activities for dogs and owners.
Coordinator Susie Boyett said the whole point was to publicize the shelter.
“We want to make sure people are aware of the animal shelter and the pets available for adoption,” said Boyett.
Registration started 10 a.m. and the parade started at 11 a.m. Each owner got a lime green Participation Ribbon for registering their dog.
“The little ribbon is just something, like a souvenir, to remind us of why we came: for our dogs,” said participator Kathy Chance.
The parade consisted of owners and their dogs walking a lap around Spring Park while the dogs were judged on how they behaved on leashes.
“The dogs had to be striding with an attitude and like they wanted all the attention,” said one organizer Chuck Niementowski.
The top three got gift certificates to PetSense, but the first prize winner got a basket full of toys, cookies, and leashes from PetSense.
Throughout the day, there were three other competitions. One was the lookalike, another was best costume, and the last was best trick.
A new contest was added to his year’s event: “Guess the Breed,” where people register and guess the two main breeds of a dog. The dog has been tested, so the organizers knew the exact breed. Whoever got it correct got a $50 gift card to Doc’s Grill.
“We tested it twice just to be sure,” said Boyett.
A number of other prizes were given throughout the day.
Niemontowski mentioned that this year was different than last year.
“Last year, we interviewed every entry, which took a long time,” he said. “Each event was really quick for the judges to observe and subject and the prizes were given immediately after the judging. I noticed that the crowd didn’t start to get impatient, so I would say it worked.”
A few special guests were there to add on to the fun: Magic, the K-9 from the White County Sherriff’s Office, therapy dogs from the Animals Brighten Lives Everywhere (ABLE), veterinarians from Honey Hill Animal Hospital, and a pet photographer.
Refreshments, hot dogs, corn dogs, and cotton candy was all served to the owners.
“I kind of thought it was odd that all the food had the word dog in it’s name, but maybe that’s the irony of it,” said Cook. “It was nice, though. I’m not a huge dog person, but it was interesting just to see dogs with their owners and how much praise dogs get.”
The event was sponsored by Young’s Tire, Ace Hardware, Henard Utility, Liberty Bank, Sonic, Community Bank, PetSense, Tender Loving Care, Simmons First Bank, and First Security Bank.
