Since 1959, The Grants Pass Active
Club has held Boatnik every Memorial Day weekend in Grants Pass,
Oregon. The activities start Thursday evening in Riverside Park
with the Davis Shows Carnival.
Saturday morning is the extremely
popular (most everyone in town attends) Boatnik parade featuring
over 100 local organizations, groups, schools and businesses
including the Rogue Valley Humane Society. And in spite of overcast
skies and some drizzles the streets were lined with folks like
never before.
Aside from being tons of fun,
the parade gives extremely positive exposure for our shelter
and usually results in several adoptions. For those who couldn't
make it this year, here are some photos of our largest parade
turn-out ever - both volunteers and animals.
With the parade starting at 10
AM, by 9 AM the RVHS "float" was in place and most
of the dogs and volunteers were on hand.
We had plenty of time to introduce
the dogs to each other and get some group photos. And unlike
last year when it was really hot and we were #60 to go, this
year the animals got priority and we were #7.
Our Gang (and yes, its
sometimes a comedy).
Most patriotic dog award went
to Jill who owns RVHS board member Mary Jane Manzi.
It wouldn't be Boatnik
without boats and this year there was a ton of them.
At 9:30 it was still drizzling
but that didn't stop the people from lining up for blocks to
see a Grants Pass tradition.
A few minutes before
10:00 the opening presentations were staging.
The dogs were getting anxious.
This year was the largest dog count the RVHS has had in the parade.
Between shelter dogs up for adoption and volunteers animals we
had 20+ entrants.
Float driver Bill and
his wife Suzanne with their kids.
There was no shortage of American
flags on this Memorial Day. Like many other small cities in America,
Grants Pass goes all out for Memorial Day.
And we're off....
Wall to wall dogs...
We want to thank Norm at SAT
Automotive in Grants Pas for lending us his very nice BIG DOG
trailer.
The dog walkers and other volunteers
passed out free samples of pet food and RVHS information handouts.
