Bark in the Park is here

Come join us tomorrow at Churchill County Fairgrounds for our annual 5K Strut-Your-Mutt Walk/Run, followed by the main event: Bark in the Park! This event is one of our two big fundraisers for the year, and we’re most grateful for your support of this fun-filled day. The shelter guests also send a thundering round of Paws Applause!

If you haven’t registered for the 5K but want to participate, registrations will start at 7:30 a.m. and end promptly at 8:45 a.m. (no exceptions). The fee is $15 per person or $50 for a group of four. For those who register on race day, we will try but cannot promise to give you an event T-shirt and goodie bag (CAPS guarantees these to those who preregistered). If you have been sponsored, there is no fee. Dogs also walk/run free and must be leashed.

This year, Anytime Fitness (from Fernley!) will lead a pre-race warm-up at 8:45. The 5K starts at 9 a.m., with the awards given a short time after the race’s end. Bark in the Park, which is free to all, runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Like the 5K, all dogs must be leashed. Water buckets will be placed around the park for our thirsty four-legged friends. Bags for picking up poo will also be available, along with hand sanitizer.

A schedule of events will be placed on the main stage. There will be music, brought to us by DJ Todd Moretto of Auditory Sensations. Like other years, we’ll be raffling some very desirable items in the foyer of the multipurpose building. Raffle tickets are $1 each or six for $5. (I’ll be helping out with the raffle this year, so please drop by and say “Hi.” I would be delighted to meet readers of this column.)

And, yes, there will be the doggie contests, which everyone loves: Cutest and Ugliest, Biggest and Smallest, Best Trick, Best Costume, Owner – Dog Lookalike and Musical Sit. Does your furry friend need a bath? Well, stop by the CAPS Doggie-Washing Station. This service is provided free, but we will happily accept donations.

After your pooch is spiffy looking, you may want to have his or her picture taken for our 2015 Happy Endings calendar. If so, stop by and see Kim Lamb, who will be waiting for you and your buddy in the multipurpose building. The sitting fee is only $20, and you’ll receive a 5×7-in. photo, which will be sent to you at a later date.

Be sure to stop by the CAPS booth where we love chatting with you, our friends. We will have not only our usual goodies for sale (calendars, shirts, caps and totes) but also raffle tickets for a beautiful floribunda crabapple tree (see below), cold sodas, hot coffee and a variety of homemade bakery treats.

We could not put on this fun day without vendors. The following folks will be there, but more may be added to the list: Top Gun Kennels; Mutts, etc.; Maggie’s Playhouse Doggie Day Care; Lahontan Valley Veterinary Clinic; Western Nevada Veterinary Services; Relay for Life; Anytime Fitness; Louie’s Home Center; Noah’s Ark Pet Sitting; Fallon Animal Welfare Group (FAWG); Fallon Animal Control (the city shelter); Papa Murphy’s Pizza; A&R Good Chow; and Ice Cream by Floyd.

Both FAWG and the city shelter will have some very cute furry friends for you to ogle over, perhaps enough so that a deserving critter finds a forever home.

We also couldn’t hold this event without the help from our sponsors: Top Gun Kennels, Fallon Veterinary Clinic, Lahontan Valley Veterinary Clinic, Western Nevada Veterinary Services, Papa Murphy’s Pizza, Anytime Fitness, CC Communications, First Independent Bank of Nevada, Louie’s Home Center, Louie’s Dollar Plus, Rusty’s Refrigeration Heating & Sheet Metal and Mackedon Erquiaga P.C. We thank them for their generosity.

As a final note, please stop by Flower Tree Nursery to buy raffle tickets ($1 each or six for $5) for a gorgeous floribunda crabapple tree (valued at $81.99!). All proceeds from this raffle directly benefit our shelter guests. The drawing will be held on May 31at Flower Tree (not May 1 as I wrongly noted in previous columns), and you don’t need to be present to win.

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