Almost 100 people and their pups joined LI-DOG for the organization’s annual Howl-o-ween Costume Contest and Pawty at The Pine Grove Inn on Oct. 23rd. The dog-centric pawty, which featured music, games, raffles, prizes, a Halloween-themed craft station and photo booth, special guests, and great food and drinks, took place on the big lawn in front of the lovely Pine Grove Inn. The event is a major fundraiser for LI-DOG, which recently worked with elected officials to get legislation passed to allow dogs in all New York State Parks.
The highlight of the pawty was the Halloween costume contest in which more than two dozen people and pups competed for $250 in prizes in two categories: Best Standalone Pet and Best Pet/Parent Duo. The prizes were generously donated by the group’s first-ever Prize Sponsor—Who’s Your Doggy Long Island, a unique, home-based dog boarding and dog day care business. Thank you to Who’s Your Doggy Long Island for helping to make our contest so exciting! A big thank you also to Barks Bakeshop for donating the delicious dog treats that went in all our winners’ gift bags!
The creativity and originality that went into creating the entries in this year’s contest was truly amazing! There were pilots and astronauts, witches and wizards, farmers and their chickens, a firefighter and his fire dog, superheroes and Disney characters including Cruella Deville and her Dalmatians, a Costco sample girl and her hot dog, and more. The judges admitted it was almost impossible to choose the winners, but in the end, they did.
Congratulations to the Winners of the Best Pet/Parent Duo: Phoebe and Coco as stuffed animals in a claw machine with their Dad as the carnival man; Bastian the Talking Terrier as Jimmy Buffett on a margarita bar with his bar tender Mom; and Meatball the presidential candidate in The Beast, surrounded by his handler and secret service detail.
Congratulations also to the Winners of the Best Standalone Pet category: Riley, the Bulldog, in a kissing booth; Logan as a fluffy pink pig; and Mister Bigsley in his adorable Puppy LePew costume.
More great photos of our costume contest contestants and winners plus our guests and their pups, the winners of our raffle baskets and more, are now available on Laura Pea Photography’s blog. We invited Laura Pea Photography to be our Special Guest and we want to thank her for doing such a terrific job taking so many memorable photos of our pawty!
Among other popular activities was our Paw Print craft station where LI-DOG volunteer Debbie DeVirgilio helped dog parents create works of art featuring cut out pumpkins and their pups’ paw prints. Also, popular was the decorated gazebo where pup parents could take adorable photos of their dogs in front of Halloween and autumn-themed backdrops.
The event also featured several special guests including My Canine’s Keeper who did an amazing training demonstration with their tiger-striped dog Hades, Rachel The Dog Trainer for You who answered our guests’ training and behavior questions, Collar Crush showed off their Interactive Dog Snuffle Matt, and Buddha Paws had their all-natural paw balms available to check out.
Ebonie and Hades, Photo Credit: Rodney Dorival
Throughout the event, our guests were able to order delicious food and Halloween-themed drinks from the Pine Grove Inn’s special event menus. Among the drinks on the DogTail menu were Beagle Mary’s and Tom Collie’s—for people only, of course! Doggies could choose from grilled chicken with veggies or a veggie burger.
Music was provided by our DJ Mike Kaplow who created a wide-ranging playlist of music from the Roaring 20s to today. In addition, LI-DOG Board Member Peggy Heijmen provided direction and encouragement to contest participants and congratulations to the winners of our contests and raffle baskets.
DJ Mike Kaplow and his boney sidekick Ms. Maroney. Photo Credit: Laura Pea Photography
Many guests won raffle baskets. Among the baskets were gift certificates to restaurants, wine bottles and hand-painted wine glasses, spiked seltzers and brews, pumpkin snickerdoodle cookies and chips, free overnight dog boarding, training sessions, dog toys and treats, paw balms, a GPS collar, artwork, a handknit sweater for your dog, and more!
Thank you to all the businesses and individuals who made our raffle SO successful! Thanks to Babylon Burger Bar, Brutus Bone Broth, Buddha Paws, Collar Crush, Del Fuego Babylon, Farmina Pet Food, Fi GPS Smart Dog Collars, The Fish Store Restaurant, Laura Pea Photography, Momo’s Too Sports Bar & Grill, My Canine’s Keeper, Nassau SPCA, Noah’s Bark Dog Training, The Pine Grove Inn, Rachel The Dog Trainer, RC Smokes, Shmush Vitamin Health Biscuits, Stew Leonard’s E. Meadow, Take 2 Brewery, Trader Joe’s Oceanside, and Who’s Your Doggy Long Island!
Plus thank you to the following individuals for their beautiful, hand-crafted donations: Gail Katz for 4 lovely hand-painted wine glasses with a carafe to match, Alan Meschkow for a hand-drawn pencil sketch of YOUR dog, and Gail Meschkow for a beautiful handknit sweater for your dog and a matching hat for you! Finally, we can’t forget to thank Bailey Applebee Dog for sniffing out several delicious wines to go in those lovely wine glasses!
An especially big THANK YOU to The Pine Grove Inn for donating the use of their beautiful outdoor patio and lawn for our Howl-o-Ween Pawty! It’s a great venue and we urge everyone to check them out throughout the year.
We also want to thank the 10 plus volunteers who helped set up the venue, welcomed our guests, got the raffle baskets and sold raffle tickets, judged our contests, and staffed our booths. We could not have done it without you!
Thank you to Alyssa, Annemarie, Debbie, Judy, Lawrence, Lynn Kay, Melanie, Mike, Robin, and Sharon. Also, a big thank you to our colleagues on the LI-DOG Board of Directors including our Events Chair Joann Garguola without whom our events would not be so successful and fun!
“Thank you to everyone who came with their adorable dogs in costume,” said Joann. “it was great seeing you all, and we hope you enjoyed the event as much as we had fun putting it together!”
“This was an important fundraiser for LI-DOG,” said Ginny Munger Kahn, president of LI-DOG. “Thank you to everyone who came out to support us and to all the businesses and individuals who contributed their wonderful products and services to the event and helped make it so successful!”
To see lots of photos from the event, go to Laura Pea Photography’s blog, LI-DOG’s Facebook Group and LI-DOG’s Meetup Group.