Dogs to the Rescue! Furrrr-st Responders

Plan now for the Northport Dog Parade

By Kristi Kates | June 16, 2018

Cherry Capital Airport’s K-9, Piper — the talented border collie who worked daily with operations manager, Brian Edwards, to chase birds and other wildlife from the airport’s runways — passed away earlier this year, after patrolling 1,907 miles and working a whopping 6,206 hours at the airport, clad in his custom goggles and vest.
        
The pup, a popular local and national canine figure, will be celebrated again at this year’s Northport Dog Parade via the parade’s 2018 theme, Dogs to the Rescue! Furrrr-st Responders.

Carly Campbell is this year’s event chair for the 22-year-old parade; she participated last year with her own dog, a husky/lab/shepherd mix named Cody, and they won Best Team for their depiction of The Princess and the Pea, with Campbell dresses as a princess and Cody up as a pod of peas — in line with last year’s theme, Hairy (aka Fairy) Tales.
        
“I had such a fun experience last year, so I’d been watching for this year’s theme, but I wasn’t seeing anything,” Campbell said. ”Next thing I heard was that they needed an event coordinator, and I’m all about ‘all things dog,’ so I volunteered.”
        
She brainstormed with her friend Will Harper (of North Shore Outfitters and the Northport village council) to try and come up with a new theme that would offer lots of costume options.
        
“We finally hit upon ‘first responders,’” said Campbell. “We thought that way, the dogs could be firefighters, police, EMTs, Coast Guard — anything a service dog could do, anything protective or helpful. Then we also realized this would be such a good way to pay tribute to Piper.”
        
The tribute isn’t just in good feeling. Entrants pay a $5 fee for each dog registered to participate in the parade; proceeds go to benefit area animal helpers like Black Sheep Crossing, the Cherryland Humane Society, and Silver Muzzle Cottage.

Although the parade isn’t a long one — “This town isn’t very big,” Campbell said with a laugh — about 40 to 50 dogs are expected, so from nose to tail, as it were, the parade is expected to last about 30 minutes. It’s scheduled to start near Northport Public School, wind back and forth around town, and then end at Haserot Park, where everyone will get to enjoy a friendly mingle and some additional activities.
        
“After the parade, there will be a dog agility course, which will be lots of fun,” Campbell said. “And then a little later after that, our local wine festival will start, so the humans get to play too.”
        
Campbell’s Cody will be in the parade again as well, “Although we haven’t decided on a costume for him just yet,” she added.

Summer Goals
Interested in walking the route with your furry best friend? You have time to plan your costume: The Northport Dog Parade will take place on August 11. You can register the day of, at 9:30am, at Mill Pond on Third Street.

Prefer to watch? It’s a not-to-be-missed summer tradition. The parade begins at 11am; pick your place on the curb along Third Street.
For more information, visit northportomenachamber.org or facebook.com/NorthportDogParade.