Bark to the Park's walk adds bite to festival

By Jennifer Silverman
Edited by Jackie Alexander
Posted April 24, 2009

Thousands of dogs and dog lovers took to the streets recently, descending upon Finlay Park for the first Bark to the Park one-mile walk to benefit homeless Midlands pets.
 
More than 600 people paid $25 for preregistering and $30 the day of to enter the walk, which Project Pet added the year after taking over the 6-year-old event from Eggplant Events Production.
 
When the day was done, Project Pet had raised over $80,000 and almost 2,500 people had come to Finlay Park, event organizer Natasha Achberger said.
  
Betsy Wolff walked with 8-week-old Annie who Wolff, a Project Pet volunteer, found in an Upstate goat shed along with two of Annie's siblings.
 
"I got her to replace my son when he left for college," Wolff said.
 
She said she wanted to help animals that have been abandoned because of hard economic times.
 
In addition to the walk, Project Pet tripled the number of vendors, to 60 booths, Achberger said.
 
Demetra Caldera and her collie-mix, Katie, did not walk, but Caldera did bring the dog to have a microchip implanted for $10 at the Birchwood Veterinary Clinic booth.  Pet stores and clinics charge as much as $45.
 
The microchips, the size of a rice grain, are inserted under a dog's skin between the shoulder blades and can be scanned to link the dog to its the owner. 
 
Caldera said that after she found a lost dog with no identification, she decided Katie needed the microchip.
 
"If she ever gets out or lost then at least she can be found," Caldera said. 
 
Elena Bethmann, a University of South Carolina senior, brought her 9-year-old dog, Merlin, to the festival after seeing a flier in the window of a local restaurant.
 
Although Bethmann, a marketing major, said she felt the walk was a little disorganized, the festival overall seemed very well done. 
 
"I would definitely do the walk and the festival again.  I thought it was cool they raised so much money for the dogs," Bethmann said.
 
K-9s in Flight a group of owners and their dogs from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., did flying disc demonstrations throughout the day. Chick-fil-A, South Carolina Pit Bull Rescue and Doggy Delights, a doggie snack bar, were also among the new booths this year.
 
"The event was so much better than I could have ever hoped," Achberger said.  "We are all ecstatic."