HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO EVERYONE!

 

What a HOWLING success the 2nd Annual Howling Halloween Costume Contest and Fundraiser was for Paws Park on Sunday, Oct. 29, 2006! We had wonderful weather, an amazing turnout for the event and raised a phenomenal $2,500 for maintenance and improvements to Paws Park!!! The money raised at this event triples what we raised at last year's Howling Halloween event and that is fantastic!!!

 

There are many THANK YOU'S in order because this event could not have happened or been so successful without the hard work and the contributions of so many people.

 

VOLUNTEERS

First and foremost, I want to thank all the volunteers who helped organize and work at the event. Without your involvement, this event wouldn't have happened or been such a success.

 

Special thanks to those on our organizing committees for all the time and effort over the last three months getting the event organized. Also, many thanks to all those that volunteered your time the day of the event for the benefit of Paws Park and so that others could have such a fabulous time with their best friends.

 

Special thanks to these great volunteers:

 

    Ross Bratlee

    Norma Brizzi & Eddie and Micah

    Leslie & John Chew & their boxers

    Holley & Gayle Davis

    Lance & Janet Folsom

    Bennie Furlong

    Dione Garnand

    Courtney George

    Jim Golding

    Jason Heuermann

    Doris Houser

    Patty Mall

    Ilona Meeks

    Maureen Moore

    Thomas Murray

    Nancy Peacock

    Suzanne Rinebarger & Onyx & Jade

    Keisha Rodriguez

    Ricardo Rodriguez

    Jakki Roberts

    Connie Smith

    Steffanie & Tara Stuart

    Mike & Mikel Thibodeau

    Kimberly Wichlan & Sandy (not me, but her golden retriever) :-)

    Velma Wood & Honey

    Melissa Wright

    Pleshette

 

COSTUME CONTEST

The Costume Contest was great fun with 52 contestants! There were so many great costumes, the judges had a tough job picking the winners. A big THANK YOU to the judges for volunteering their time to judge the costume contest for us:

 

    Rick Knight - Jacksonville Beach City Council

    Harriet Pruette - Neptune Beach City Council

    Fland Sharp - Jacksonville Beach Mayor

    Leona Sheddan - Jacksonville Humane Society Board President

    Susan Stanton - Shorelines Pet Tales Columnist

 

THANK YOU to all of the people and puppies who dressed up and participated in the costume contest! CONGRATULATIONS to the costume contest winners:

 

    Funniest Dog Costume:  Tula the flower with Susie White

    

    Scariest Dog Costume:  Louie the devil with Heather Martin

    

    Most Original Dog Costume:  Oakley the cow and Gamble the horse with Priscilla Merkel

    

    Best Dog and Owner Costume:  Heather Peeples and Bentley who were dressed as

                                                              Raggedy Ann and Andy

 

We also want to recognize and thank the donors of our contest participant gifts:

 

    Star Barks Pet Boutique

    Maureen Moore

    Petco

 

Special thanks to the donors of the contest winner prize packages:

 

    Swoozie's at St. John's Town Center

    Crunch, Maxx & Woody's Famous Pets

    A Friend in the Woods Pet Sitting

    Olive Garden at Regency

    Petco at Marsh Landing

    Del Monte Foods & First Coast No More Homeless Pets

 

Last but not least, we want to thank Jason Heuermann for being the master of ceremonies for the costume contest! Great job, Jason!

 

RAFFLE

This year we had over $1800 in prizes donated and we raised over $1600 in raffle ticket sales!!! That is awesome!!! The raffle was a lot of fun and many people won some fabulous prizes including a grand prize "Spooky St. Augustine Get-Away"!

 

Special thanks goes to:

 

    Kimberly Wichlan and Connie Smith, our event raffle coordinators

    Holley & Gayle Davis for printing the raffle tickets

    Jason Heuermann for being our raffle emcee

 

Special thanks goes out to the people and businesses who donated prizes for the raffle. 

We thank them all for their support of Paws Park!

 

Please thank the following businesses who contributed to the raffle by giving them your patronage!

 

    Alpha Pet Care

    Bob Rankine

    Casa Monica Hotel, St. Augustine

    Cloud K9 Mobile Pet Spa

    Constance, Animal Communicator

    Creatures Great and Small Pet Services

    Crunch, Maxx & Woody's Famous Pets

    Culhane's Irish Public House

    Elizabeth, Oliver & Stanley Hayes

    Fur People Pet Grooming

    Fursace Pet Designers

    Get Back Jack Pet Car Safety Net

    Ghost Tours of St. Augustine

    Hair Gallery

    Jacksonville Zoo

    Jason Heuermann

    Jay Lubeck Jewelers

    Joseph's Pizza Italian Restaurant

    Kate Beck

    Lisa Ussery

    O.C. White's Food & Spirits, St. Augustine

    Pet Supermarket

    Petlagio

    Ragtime Tavern

    Sea Turtle Inn

    Shorelines Gift Shop

    Slider's Seafood Grille

    Steady Steps Therapy

    Sticky Fingers

    The Book Mark

    Tom Trechel

    Tour St. Augustine

    Turtle Island Market & Natural Foods

    Wine Warehouse

 

EVENT TABLE PARTICIPANTS

We would like to recognize and thank all the event table participants (vendors, non-profits and rescue groups) that supported Paws Park by participating in the event.

 

Special thanks to Norma Brizzi and Jakki Roberts, our event table participant coordinators.

 

VENDORS

We hope you visited all the vendor tables to learn more about them and we ask that you thank them for their support of Paws Park by giving them your patronage in the future!

 

    Agility Pet Resort

    Atlantic East Pet Center

    Crunch, Maxx & Woody's Famous Pets

    Dog Watch of Jacksonville

    Friendly Pet Taxi

    Get Back Jack Pet Safety Nets

    Keller Williams Realty

    Miss Daisy's Delights

    Ollie Koala's Backyard

    Pet Butler

    Pawsitive Solutions and Alpha Pet Care:  these businesses were unable to attend the event,

                                                                       but they made a donation to Paws Park!

    Shure Pet Pet Products

 

RESCUE GROUPS & NON-PROFITS

We hope that everyone visited the rescue group and non-profit tables at the event to learn more about the wonderful things these organizations are doing for animal welfare and for pets in our communities. Also, please consider supporting and helping these organizations continue to do the important work that they are doing.

 

    Boxer Aid & Rescue

    Dog Sports Clubs

    First Coast No More Homeless Pets

    Jacksonville Humane Society

    Pet Rescue North

    Shih Tzu and Fur Baby Rescue

    Tat-Too-A-Pet:  This group microchipped 6 dogs and tattoo'ed 3 dogs at the event!  

 

PHOTOS

We sold 48 Halloween photos this year and all the photos were great! Thanks to all the volunteers who helped with the photo area the day of the event. We also want to recognize

the following people for their special contributions to the photo area:

 

    Suzanne Rinebarger: photographer who took the great photos!

    Kathy and Carla Brycer: backdrop designers and donated some of the backdrop items

    Kim Williams: donated the hay

    Courtney George: donated some of the items for the backdrop

 

WATER

We would like to recognize and thank Jacksonville Coca-Cola of the Florida Coca-Cola Bottling Company for their donation of bottle water for the event!

 

SOUND SYSTEM

We want to recognize and thank John Tipton with the musical group the Mosquitoes who provided the sound system and music for the event! The sound system was great and we appreciate John volunteering his time to provide and setup the sound system for our event!

 

CITY OF JACKSONVILLE BEACH

Last, but not least, we want to thank the City of Jacksonville Beach Parks and Recreation Department for providing the tent, tables, chairs and power. We also want to thank the city's special events department for their help and for advertising the event on the city web site.  Special thanks goes to:

 

    Gary Meadors

    Marilyn Matejcek

    Roy Paxson

    Lorraine Troendle

    Mercede Gardner

 

Most importantly, we want to thank the City of Jax Beach for everything they have done to make Paws Park a reality and everything they continue to do in support of the park. We are extremely thankful to the City of Jax Beach for providing our community with such a great place to enjoy with our dog friends and people friends!

 

Hope you all had a HAPPY and SAFE HALLOWEEN!