Lent is almost upon us, and you know what that means: time to cram in a last minute attempt to have something to atone for for the next 40 days. Worldwide, there are plenty of opportunities and activities to attend for people who want to give it a shot. I have a friend who lives in Germany who is chronicling her experience with Carnival in Cologne by posting pictures of all the parades and festivities on Facebook. And a few other friends who are in Mexico watching the Carnival Parades going by there. And another friend who spent the weekend in New Orleans experiencing the debauchery of Mardi Gras, and attempting (albeit unsuccessfully due to Facebook’s terms of service) to post pictures of all that he’s seen and done.
Not ones to let such festivities pass us by, we decided to jump on the bandwagon and celebrate as well. So what did we do to celebrate the pre-Lenten season? Body paint, glitter, big boozey drinks, and singing?
Close.
How about paws, leashes, tutus, and American flags? Yep, we made our annual pilgrimage to McKinney for the 4th year in a row, to check out the Krewe of Barkus Mardi Gras Dog Parade, this year set to an Americana Theme. Or more precisely, because the parade fell on President’s Day weekend this year: All American Barkus: A Salute to Presidents, Pioneers, & Pawtriots. This means we were treated to a parade full of dogs and people festooned with Mardi Gras beads and red, white, and blue ribbons. Beads and American flags. Beads and American icons. Beads and powdered wigs, even.
Here I’ll show you.
Before the parade started, Kaiden and Riley hung out on the curb, looking at random dogs and trying not to get wet from the previous day’s residual rainwater.
Promptly at 2:00, the parade began, with 2 bicycle police officers leading the way.
The first “float” held the coordinator, mistress of ceremonies, and overall Queen of the event, Blynda.
Finally, our first glimpse of Mardi Gras Americana, doggie style.
Loved the tree on this float representing Johnny Appleseed, or Ap”paw”seed as he was punnily named:
Occasionally there were some parade participants who didn’t go with the Americana theme, and stuck to a more traditional Mardi Gras look. Which was fine, considering it was a Mardi Gras parade. Just don’t expect to win any prizes, slackers.
We have NO idea what these costumes had to do with either Mardi Gras OR Patriotism in America… but they made me laugh. Is the one in the back wearing a beaver costume? We couldn’t tell. And how about the dog in the front? Whaaaa–? Wait, American Gladiators?? Surely not.
And this dog looked FAAAAABulous and deserved a picture if for no other reason than to show off her (his?) feathery cuffs.
But the majority of the dog entrants kept with the America theme. Little Yankee Doodle Dandy.
And here’s a pic I snapped just for Riley, the Rangers fan.
Very cute little doggie, dressed as Betsy Ross, or as they called her, Betsy Ruff. I’m telling you, dog puns were running rampant at this event.
This float was Air Force One, complete with a dog as the President and his owners as Secret Service and Security Detail.
This was a dog crate full of miniature pinscher (min pins) puppies that were apparently for sale or adoption or whatever.
They even pulled Uncle Sam into the action to get those puppies to new homes:
After the parade ended, the girls showed off the beads they had caught during the parade. They also had pockets full of candy.
Time for Blynda to tell us who had won the prizes!
After introducing her dog, Lady Godiva, who has attended the Dog Parade for the last 10 years. Due to her age, Blynda said this might be Lady G’s last time to be there. Sadness.
I had taken a picture of these people, trying to figure out what in the hell these giant flies were doing on their heads.
American housefly? Really? Thank goodness NO. Turns out these people had gone for an American Hero and had their dog dress up like Dr Walter Reed, while they represented the mosquitos that Dr Reed had figured out were causing the spread of Yellow Fever back in the day. Here’s what they all looked like together:
Here’s another picture I took of Beaverhead Dog… IS it a beaver?? The tail isn’t right for beaver really. Ratdog? Catdog? PerplexTheAudienceDog? It’s wooooorking…..
Remember I mentioned the rampant Dog Puns. None were more in evidence than with this winning group who came representing the cause, Dogupy Wall Street. There were signs that said No Fat Cats, 99%= Working Dog, Muzzle Wall Street and Put Wall Street on a Leash. Nothing more American than politics.
This group of gingham clad youngsters won a prize, and I’m sure their seamstress was mighty glad to have won something for all of her needle handiwork. Seriously, look at those bonnets!
Don’t forget me on the Mayflower:
I can’t remember if this guy won anything or not, but his costume is great! Look at his paws:
This dog, who came with his owner as Irish Immigrants, cracked me up, only because his kilt looked a lot like boxer shorts to me. Those crazy Irish!
I know you were skeptical when I mentioned powdered wigs, but looky here, I have photographic evidence.
He was a bit askew at this point, but he had on a powdered wig, a la George Washington, as well as a velvet vest and fruffled shirt front. The Mrs. had on gingham and lace. Quite fetching, I must say.
And representing the American contribution to the Olympics was this group of medallioned winners.
Yay, Betsy Ruff won a prize. That teeny weeny white cap on her head deserved a prize all by itself. Cuteness.
I had seen this giant dog off and on throughout the afternoon. Seriously, could you miss him?
When I took this picture, I walked back to our group, showed it to them and said to Mike, “Here’s the winner.”
Guess what?
Best In Show! Toldja. Yep, the Statue of Liberty and his gaggle of immigrants took Best In Show for the parade! If you tuned in earlier this year when I blogged on last year’s parade, you might recognize him as the Best In Show winner from last year. Here he is posing with Riley and me:
and with his owners as a Bull and his gaggle of Rodeo Clowns:
Parade over, prizes distributed, we headed out back towards the car.
Since the next day was Ashley’s birthday and the day after that was My birthday, we had decided to go out to eat some celebratory pizza at Urban Crust in a low key birthday kinda way. I totally forgot to take any pictures, so you’ll have to trust me that we were all there and that the pizza looked (and tasted) delish! I did, however, take a picture of the most important thing:
WHO KNEW???
Quite the tasty morsel.
And so began my birthday celebration. February 21st is my official day. I’d like to say the whole day will be filled with rampant joyousness, but it probably won’t. We’ve got big bidness to attend to first that day. I’ll fill you in later.
Til then, you’ve got less than 48 hours to get your party on before Lent arrives. So go Gras your Mardi while you still have time…..
