Having fun at Bark in the Park

We had a grand time Saturday at Churchill County Fairgrounds for our seventh annual 5K Strut-Your-Mutt Walk/Run and Bark in the Park! We said hello to many old friends and met new friends, who will become old friends.

We thank all who came out to enjoy a few hours with their four-legged furry friends. We absolutely couldn’t do this without you. We are most grateful for your generous support of this event, all of which provides care for our shelter guests.

The 5K started on time, so the day was off and running. (Due to space limitation, names of the first-, second-, and third-place winners cannot be noted in this article, but their names can be found at our website (www.capsnv.org). After medals were handed out to the winners in the various groups, Bark in the Park “opened the doors,” and the fun began.

Last week, this column thanked the vendors (I missed including Top Gun Kennels, and I apologize for that) and sponsors, so this week we want to thank all who helped run the event itself. We also want to again thank the Naval Air Station Fallon K-9 Unit. We always love to see dogs in action, doing their thing!

To Churchill County Parks and Recreation, thanks for providing the event’s venue. Because the wind blew in strong, early in the day, the use of the multipurpose building kept our raffle items secure and Kim Lamb’s backdrop in place.

Our sincere gratitude goes out to the businesses and individuals who donated items to raffle: Lahontan Valley Veterinary Clinic; Kathy Joseph; Shannon Miller, Maggie’s Playhouse and Doggie Daycare; Eva Gross, Mutts, etc.; Churchill Vineyards; Big R; La Fiesta; Renner Equipment Co.; Slanted Porch; Papa Murphy’s; GoGo’s Random Stuff; Julie Lamb, The UnCommon Thread; Rachel Gilmore, Looking Good; Christine Shuey Soriano, The Hair Affair; Ashlyn, Bellissima Salon and Day Spa; Lynn, Bellissima Salon and Day Spa; Rita Hand; Pauline Friedrich; Taco, Pepsi, Tony and Baloo Hanson; and Mandy Bowman.

We also thank Fallon Veterinary Clinic for donating goodie-bag items.

Special thanks go to Kim Lamb Photography for capturing on “film” all those precious pets for our 2014 Happy Endings calendar. Kim snapped photos of more than 20 dogs of all sizes, shapes and colors, with some being joined by their persons. We were also delighted that a bird lover had a group photo taken of six exotic, tropical birds.

Our gratitude goes to Richard Summers for photographing the day’s events. A link for pictures of the doggie-contest winners and other happenings (any of which will be downloadable) will soon be posted on our website, so please check there from time to time. We also greatly appreciate DJ Ralph Rodrigues for donating his time.

A standing Paws Applause! goes out to Churchill High School’s Student to Student group for their help with the 5K: Cynthia Martinez, Morgan Kuykendall, Schea Deane, Kelsey Deane, Adam Wadsworth, Shivani Bhakta and their advisor, Mary Olsen. (Also helping with the 5K was a group of Girl Scouts from a local troop. I hadn’t received their names or troop number before deadline submission, but they will be thanked by name next week.)

CAPS especially thanks our always dedicated and hard-working volunteers who helped with the raffle, the doggie-washing station, bringing and walking shelter dogs and anything else that was needed: Pauline and John Friedrich, Ken Wiley, Parry and Joe Theriot, Amanda Kesterson and Nick Bown, Chastity Martinez, Timothy Dick, Mandy Bowman, Megan Borrelli, Brianna Baley, Rebekah and Josh Lazanis, Tom and Geri (surnames not known at deadline).

A huge blast of gratitude goes to our friend Glenn Robards, who persuades friends every year to show up at the crack of dawn to help us haul, lift, set up and then break down at the end. This year they were Allen Huge, Ori Corwin and Mike (surname not known at deadline). Thanks, guys!

We thank Ron Fritcher, designer of our event T-shirt, for sprucing up its design this year.

If it weren’t for the hours spent in planning, this event could not take place. Thanks to the CAPS staff and board (and their spouses who helped things run smoothly): Teresa and Shawn Summers, Sharon Peters, Betty Duncan, Pauline and John Friedrich, Lynda and Jeff Hanson, Rita Hand, Ken and Faye Wiley and Randy Bradshaw.

This week’s article was contributed by Betty Duncan, a member of the CAPS board of directors.