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Ho-hum. Another day in the bookstore....
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What's this? Dogs going by?
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While kids look at books, Sarah checks out sidewalk traffic.
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| Whose car is this? Cool plate! |
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| Anticipation.... |
Then, somehow, I missed the very beginning of the parade! Missed the dog parade banner coming down the street! Did it mention "20 Years"? I don't know. I'm still working on the calculation myself, starting with the age of my bookstore (22), subtracting the three summers it was in Traverse City (19), adding back the two dog parades I know we missed (2) -- 21 years? I'm confused. Who's got the count?
Never mind. Here come dogs! This year's theme, "Woofstock," was truly inspired -- and inspiring.
Not all of my pictures turned out great, but I'm including a couple fuzzy ones nonetheless, because they are important parts of village life.
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| Northport Promise |
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Northport Wildcats!!!
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Along the way, with dogs, dogs, dogs, were people marching with a Coming Attraction, the Leelanau UnCaged street fair the last Saturday in September.
The street fair is as much fun as the dog parade -- maybe more, in that it lasts all day long. But right now it's still August, and today was the day Northport went to the dogs. Beneficiaries of this year's parade fees were the Cherryland Humane Society, Black Sheep Crossing, and Silver Muzzle Cottage.
Sarah had a good time watching the parade, especially when she saw dogs she knows, like Laddie and Nessie.
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| Laddie |
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| Nessie |
We were also excited and pleasantly surprised to see Sarah's former groomer, Jamie. She is only Sarah's "former" groomer because she, Jamie, moved down to Grand Rapids. We miss her!
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| It's Jamie!!! |
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| Omena has a big doggie presence. (Their mayor is a dog.) |
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| And the dogs and hippies just kept comin' |
Our librarian and her entourage and the Friends of the Library in the Stanley Steamer took the prize for bending Sixties slogans to their own agenda, and since it's an agenda I share, I loved their signs.
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| Big dog makes big shadow! |
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| It isn't a parade without a band |
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| Neighbors and neighbor dogs |
I hope someone counted all the dogs in this year's parade -- and then, too, all the dogs like Sarah along the parade route, enjoying the scene from the sidelines.
Then the parade was over for another year, leaving behind smiles and memories. What a wonderful tradition! In Northport, we love our town, and we love our dogs.
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| Kirk in t- and bandana |
5 comments:
Great documentation of one of Northport's favorite events. The creativity that went into some of the costuming was wonderful. A fun day for all and, fortunately, it was cool enough that the dogs could enjoy it too.
LOVE the dog parade! And of course loved Laddie and Nessie! Sarah had the best seat to see it all!
What fun! I can imagine a strutting Robert Preston singing "Seventy Six Hambones led the Dog Parade".
BB, are you anywhere near Sandpoint, ID? Asking because I got word that "Common Knowledge last day is SUNDAY Cafe, bookstore." You should head on over, maybe.
Sandpoint is about a three hour drive north. It is funny, because
we were discussing going up and spending a couple of days mini vacation (after recovering from the drive to Topeka and back last month-3400 miles). It sits of big Lake Pend Oreille and is sort of
a strange combination tourist/red neck town. Think latte & gunfire?
One of the draws is a huge dock full of small buildings that sticks
out into the lake which feature arts, crafts, foods and a lot of tourists. Among railroad aficionados, the 'bottleneck' of trains
heading for and coming from the north mountain crossing is a big draw. You would probably like the nearby guest ranch, which caters to Michigan cowgirls !
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