Written by Abby Chadwick, Photos by Lu Pan
The 16th Annual Wag-O-Ween was held in downtown Savannah this year on the Oct. 23–24. Dogs of all ages and breeds flocked to the streets to show off their Halloween spirit and participate in events held in the town squares. Perhaps the most widely anticipated events were the wiener dog races and the wanna-be wiener dog races.
One of these wanna-be wiener dog racers was Bentley. Bentley is a seasoned racer at Wag-O-Ween and his owner, Alyssa Grissom, has been taking him to the event ever since he was born (which made this his fourth year attending.) Bentley showed off his Halloween spirit in a cupcake costume, and even though he may have come in last place in the race, his energetic spirit made him a winner in the hearts of everyone there.
Another participant at Wag-O-Ween was Ginger. Ginger was a first-time Wag-O-Ween attendee and her and her owner, Jack Daniel Krazyminski, showed their Halloween spirit with a chicken taco group costume. “So far, Wag-o-Ween is pretty outstanding,” he said. “I would do this every year if I could. It’s important to take part in these kinds of community events for a couple of reasons. Number one, this is huge because it allows people to see how great of an opportunity it is to adopt or foster animals and support local charities. And then, it also brings the community together, especially after the last couple of years.”
Speaking of animal adoption, Wag-O-Ween was a perfect time for groups to spread the word about their animal adoption and rescue services. Laura Lewis from Bryan County Animal Control was kind enough to share a few words about their experiences. “Everybody is great,” she said. “I mean, we love Savannah. I’ve lived here for seven years. I’ve lived in Richmond Hill for most of that time and we just love this area. Everyone here is just so nice and dog-friendly. It’s so awesome. Socialization for the dogs is also so important. Getting them out and getting them used to being out in situations like this. Especially being with Bryan County Animal Control, it’s hard for us to get them out so that people can see that we do have adoptable animals.”
So, whether you attended to show off your puppy’s Halloween get-up, you wanted to learn more about pet adoption services or you just wanted to support the community, it’s clear to see that the 16th annual Wag-O-Ween was an event that will be hard to fur-get!
