If you and your pup popped over to BarkFest this Sunday, we’re glad to see you made it through the heat and to the other side! Fun fact: with the temperatures pushing toward a blistering 94 degrees on the Brooklyn pier and everyone’s tongues hanging out, BarkFest turned out 50 TIMES BIGGER than last year’s event and we got to pet so many dogs! Woohoo!
What a way to celebrate the irruffocable love we have for our pups and our number one priority: making dogs happy! What’s a dog’s life without excessive tail-wagging, anyway? (Pretty dull if you ask me.)
Anywho, I am offering you the rare and unique opportunity to relive the magic, BarkPost style.
So once p’upon a time… a city dog begged his human to please, please, please take him to a rumored doggy paradise, a wonderland known only as BarkFest.
His human hesitated, imagining melting under the New York City sun, but took one look at those puppy-dog eyes and couldn’t refuse. Just like that, they were on the streets, navigating the unbelievably frustrating subway system, and eventually encountered a sign: BARKFEST: 3 GATES DOWN. At least, that’s how the legend goes.
First, the Voyce-sponsored dog-friendly fireworks that BLEW our minds! And we got quite a few humans to bark along with their dogs to trigger the flashing colors!
This dog certainly enjoyed them.
And the puppin’ awesome agility course with NYC dog trainer Shelby Semel brought out some dogs’ inner athlete! Props to them for kickin’ those hurdles’ butts!
Of course, the celebri-dogs were a hit! Marnie had the cameras trained on her every move…
… and Doug the Pug and Wally the Welsh Corgi gained a whole slew of new doggy fans.
Kruuse’s BUSTER Activity Mat played mind games with some of the best dog brains in Brooklyn (but we’re sure Andi could have solved it).
And once their tails had a good wag and the sun started bearing down, pups made a beeline for the Splash Zone to wet their nose and cool their toes.
SO MANY PUGS. Did I mention it was hot out there?
When the cool-off was complete, the best of the best eaters sauntered over to the hot dog-eating contest. Toots the Yorkie killed it, though we applaud her style more than her speed. You go, Toots, nibble the poop outta that thing.
PBNJ, protégé of an actual professional competitive eater, was hilariously uninterested in anything to do with the wieners. Sorry, dude, looks like your pup has other career interests! At least she’s got a great smile!
As we all know, doggy chow-downs take a lot of energy, so the Relaxation Station always had a healthy supply of four-legged participants. And by that I mean Corgis.
But who needs shade when you have a FIELD OF ICE CUBES!
Oh, and for the hoomans, Tattly donated ALL the custom temporary tattoos! I’ll be honest, these may have been one of my favorite stations–and I got to bring it home with me! (Plus, they’re safe, non-toxic, and vegetable-based!)
If I’m gonna tell this seven-hour story in a nutshell, I’d say that we had a blast browsing the BarkShop, building pawsonalized BarkBoxes, taking expert snapshots at the Photo Booth, and sitting for an accurate artist’s rendering of our pups!
But best of all, we had FUN. We got to meet our canine pals (and their humans!) in person and celebrate their very existence, and we shared treats and head scratches and compliments on our amazing dogs. We even got some interested families for the pack of foster pups roaming the scene, and that might be the greatest thing ever.
Basically, dogs rule. I wonder if we effectively got that message across. Hasta la Vizsla, pups, and we hope to see you again soon!
