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Date: 10/25/2022
SOUTH HADLEY – Looking for a howling fun time of Halloween celebrations? Look no further than the South Hadley Dog Park’s first annual Howl-o-ween Party.
The Friends of the South Hadley Dog Park is presenting the first annual Howl-o-ween on Oct. 29 at the South Hadley Dog Park. The public is invited to an afternoon at the park and dogs and children are welcomed to bring their best Halloween outfits for costume contests.
Friends of the South Hadley Dog Park President Liz Persch said the group was looking to host an event to celebrate the dog park following some renovations and with it being October, the Halloween theme was an easy choice to make.
“We’re referring to it as a fun fundraiser. The park just underwent phase 1 of a very big erosion landscaping project and we were trying to think of a way that unified members and could bring excitement back to see how great the park looks now,” said Persch.
Persch said the group hopes to continue this event as an annual fundraiser where the main focus is for community members to come together for a great day at the park.
The costume contest for dogs and children will be judged and awarded first, second and third place ribbons. There will also be smaller activities for children to participate in at the park, as well as raffles for the fundraising.
The community event will have speakers and music throughout the afternoon and the event has eight vendors committed to coming to offer different dog-related products to those in attendance. Baltazar Dental, who sponsored the park’s new shed, will be one of the vendors with a table set up.
Other vendors will include Mutt Rescue Inc. out of Chicopee, Baystate K9 Training, a pet insurance agency, and a handful of other vendors offering pet bandanas, snuffle mats for dogs and crafts.
“So many of our members own small businesses and are connected in the community so we wanted to highlight them as much as we can,” Persch said. “The biggest mission of me becoming president was to get the community involved and really focus on raising some money.”
Persch added she hopes that for future “fun fundraisers” such as this that community members come out and have a good time and consider donating and learning about the resource South Hadley has with the park.
Donations to the park can be made at any time at southhadleymadogpark.org and raffles will take place during the event to raise more funds. The Friends of the South Hadley Dog Park also hope to educate new visitors and members of the park on how they can get involved.
Persch said they will talk with attendees about “Sustaining Park Pals” which is a program the park is looking to incorporate for donations. Members of the park will be able to sign up through the program and set up a monthly PayPal donation to the park of their choosing.
According to Persch, the Friends of the South Hadley Dog Park are also looking to engage and build retention with members and get them more involved now that phase 1 of the erosion project is complete.
“We’re hoping to educate that we’re always looking for new members for the board and for communities because a lot of members want to get involved,” Persch said. “We’re hoping to make some money from raffles and donations and talking about Sustaining Park Pals.”
Dogs and children bring your best Halloween outfit for a fun day at the dog park. A rain date is scheduled for the following day, Oct. 30.