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Community Corner

A Pet Parade, Costume Contest, and a Donkey in Stotzky Park

The 1st Annual Riverhead Pet Parade brought animals of all shapes and sizes to Stotzky Park on Saturday.

A donkey, a horse, and a guinea pig were all in Stotzky Park Saturday morning and no, there wasn't a circus in town.  It was just Riverhead's 1st Annual Pet Parade.  The parade gave a variety of pets and their owners a chance to strut their stuff and take part in a variety of fun competitions.

Prizes were handed out for best costume, best owner/pet look-a-like, best trick and most unusual pet at the fun event. The Riverhead Animal Shelter, Kent Animal Shelter, Riverhead Animal Hospital and East End Veterinary Emergency and Specialty were all on hand for the event, handing out prizes, raffles and even micro-chipping pets free of charge.

Danielle Doll is the Riverhead Recreation and Cultural Affairs Supervisor, and she coordinated the event.  

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"We wrote letters to local hospitals and shelters asking for donations, and these groups all responded," she said.

The day started with pets and their owners walking around Stotzky Park before entering in to one of the open ball fields.  A ring was set up in the middle of the field where all of the rescue animals at the event were introduced and a part of their story was told. Then, after a brief tutorial on dog training, the competitions began.

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The costume and look-a-like contests were the highlight of the event. The costume contest saw competition between local dogs, cats and guinea pigs. After each animal pranced in front of the judges showing off their Santa Claus, elf, or even squirrel costume, the judges then announced the winners for the day. 

Angel, a American Staffordshire Terrier in a squirrel costume placed first in the event. My cocker spaniel, Barnum, in placed second, and Noodles a cat in an elf costume, placed third.

Diane Barber is Angel's mom.  She said they brought her shy pit bull to the event to get her out and to help socialize her. Winning the costume contest, left her "dumbfounded and perplexed," she said. Angel was adopted from the North Fork Animal Welfare League 2 ½  years ago. As a shy girl, she wasn't too thrilled with the idea of walking around in front of the judges, but the judges couldn't resist this chubby pit bull in her cute squirrel costume, and awarded her the top prize.

Riverhead resident Cathy Springer took the look-alike contest to a new level, competing alongside her horse for the event. Springer wore a hand crafted papier-mâché horse head, long brown tail and a matching brown outfit to take home the top prize with her horse. Springer's donkey also took home the most unusual pet prize.

Doll said she considered the event a "great, big success" although she admitted she was hoping to see a goat join the crowd.

Check out our photo album to get your own look at the animals that participated along with their owners.

Also, don't forget about our series.  Four Legged and Furry will be back next week with the next column in the series. Until then, keep working on the first two lessons from last week.

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