Spring Is in the Air....

 

                         

As the song goes, "Every girl crazy 'bout a sharp-dressed man!" This little Pomeranian was a big hit at Bark Fest held in Lake Norman, North Carolina, recently. He is a snappy dresser for sure! It was a brisk day, but just right for all the dogs and their friends who attended Bark Fest. If you love dogs, you'd have had a field day at this fun event! I sure did. Our son Lee organized the event to introduce his new venture- Carolina Real Food for Dogs. I flew up to attend and help in his booth. It was the highlight of the year to date, and I had the best time.

                                            

Meet grand-dog Winston, shown here entering the grounds before Bark Fest opened at Langtree Village Complex at Lake Norman. He's much the reason Carolina Real got started. Winston had some health issues as a pup that were not responding to conventional vet treatment. Lee decided to make Winston's food  himself in order to address some of the ongoing digestive concerns. Look at Winston now- very healthy and fit, beautiful coat and muscling. Several friends asked to try the food for their dogs who also responded well. Lee, along with his wife Carin, has been part of the health and fitness industry for people for many years. He decided to take his experience and knowledge in a new direction to provide a product for optimum dog health. A healthy gut helps make a healthy dog after all.

                                        

So Lee attended a dog food convention to learn more, took a college class on business start up and courses on dog nutrition, worked a job in a restaurant kitchen for several months to sharpen his commercial food skills, and hired formulators to adjust his recipes to meet federal standards. Now that the product samples have been distributed at Bark Fest and well received, he is gearing up to launch production later in 2022. An exciting venture! Here are the Carolina Real workers- Lee, Carin, granddaughter Brooke, and me.

                                                

One of the vendors at Bark Fest was Trish Dole Photography. She had a cute Spring backdrop and took photo portraits of the dogs on site. She donated part of the proceeds to Carolina Boxer Rescue, the charitable organization selected to benefit from the event. If you have a few minutes, visit her site by clicking on her name above. She put together the cutest video of some of the dogs she photographed that day. Turn up the volume, the background song is a toe-tapper. I've watched it a dozen times already! (Photo by Trish Dole)

                                            

 Merchandise like neck scarves and leashes were featured. But some of the vendors offered dog services like Carolina Pooper Scoopers. They'll do the yard and grounds clean up for you. Who knew that was a thing? This is my daughter-in-law Carin and grand-dog Winston stopping by for  visit. 

Carl's Closet was well stocked with colorful neck scarves in holiday and other themed prints in sizes to fit every dog. I had a hard time deciding between the turkey and the avocado prints. (Photo by The Peaceful Paw)

And The Peaceful Paw, also a sponsor of Bark Fest, had wonderful smelling and therapeutic essential oil sprays, shampoos, and salves for dogs.

                                                                 

 Not all of the vendors were in pop-up tents. This one brought her mobile van. There are two tread mills inside and Muddy Dog will come to you to exercise and/or rehab your dogs. What a great concept. 

Here's just one of the tail-wagging swirls of new friends doing a sniff-and-greet.

Birds of a feather- these two big fellas had a meet up at Bark Fest. I believe they are a New Foundland on the left and a Mastiff on the right.

Dogs of all sizes and breeds were in attendance. Some had a chance to play in the adjacent dog park off leash. Everyone got along remarkably well. I call the little bull dog in the photo above "The Rabble Rouser". He was in the middle of every group of wagging, playing dogs I saw. He must have had a long nap after the event- I know we all did. There were only two potential mix-ups that seemed less playful, but they lasted only a second before they got shut down. So it was a very peaceful festival. Dogs sure know how to have fun. 

                                     

Hope you enjoyed your tour of Bark Fest!