Thanks to all who participated in making Puptown's eighth annual Howl-O-Ween costume contest a great success! This year, 77 good-natured dogs and their incredibly creative guardians participated in front of a crowd of approximately 200 Puptown members, friends, neighbors and bemused passerby.
Our judges -- Alderman Mary Ann Smith, Janis Taylor of the Chicago Park District, and Puptown's very own Stephanie, aided by her faithful companions, Sugar and Shadow -- had the difficult task of choosing the best-costumed, but every dog who came to play went home a winner.
Proceeds totaled nearly $2,000, all of which will go toward park maintenance and future structural improvements. We enjoyed the support of more than 20 area businesses that donated raffle and silent auction prizes and other services. In particular, we thank the Bark Bark Club for its sponsorship and Soggy Paws for providing goodie bags.
None of this would have been possible without all the volunteers who solicited donations, cleaned and readied the park that morning, worked at the event and tidied up afterward. A special shout-out to this year’s Howl-O-Ween Planning Committee members: Ron Caperton, Christine Cupaiuolo, David Goyer, Judy Joyce, John Lenti, Rebecca Mark, Andrea Powers, Jacob Stover, Stacy Szczelina, and Nicole Visnyak, and to photographer Alan Jacobs for donating proceeds from the sale of dog photos. And special thanks to our emcee, Bernie Heidkamp, and graphic artist extraordinaire, Eric Wagner.
- Ellen Szalinski, Howl-O-Ween coordinator
I just wanted to add my comments about Dave and Tyler and how very sad I was to hear about their passing. Dave was always one of the nicest people at the park and one of the first people I met when I became a regular. My favorite memory of Tyler was myfirst winter at the park with Bromley in 2004. I remember it was super cold and I finally gave in and bought Bromley an awful purple fleece jacket. One day, Dave and Tyler showed up and Tyler had on the coolest camoflage jacket--with a hood! I felt so bad for Brom that he had to wear his nerdy, purple jacket! I asked Dave where he found that jacket and it turned out he bought the jacket at Target. It was a baby's jacket that he had customized for Tyler!!! Brom and Tyler proceeded to chase each other around, trying to tear each other's jackets off! One of the funniest, most fun times at the park. I will miss them both very much
Posted by: Tish Teeluck | February 09, 2009 at 11:01 AM