MARYSVILLE — The seventh annual Marysville Poochapalooza is seeking interested pet-related businesses and “people food” vendors for Snohomish County’s biggest outdoor dog event, a summertime dog festival celebrating pet lovers and their four-legged best friends.
This year’s event will run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, July 13, at Strawberry Fields Athletic Park, located at 6100 152nd St. NE in Marysville. Poochapalooza is sponsored by the Marysville Dog Owners Group.
“It’s like a county fair for dogs, without the rides,” Poochapalooza Founder and M-DOG President Leslie Buell said. “We host Poochapalooza as a fun day out for pet lovers, and to highlight pooches at their best and brightest.”
Public admission is free, but $5 minimum donations are greatly welcomed, with goodie-filled “wag bags” provided to the first 400 visitors. Poochapalooza donations, event sponsorships and vendor fee proceeds support park improvements at Marysville’s Strawberry Fields for Rover Off-Leash Park, and ongoing stewardship of the park as provided by M-DOG on behalf of the Marysville Parks and Recreation Department, as well as contributing toward costs for making “The Pooch” bigger and better for participants.
“This is M-DOG’s major fundraiser for the off-leash dog park, and the proceeds from this event go toward supplies, repairs and special projects,” Buell said. “We are 95 percent to completion of our small dog area within the dog park. The small dog area is for dogs 25 pounds or smaller, so they can socialize and enjoy the park with dogs their size.”
Dozens of pet vendor booths, a regional flying disc championship, a Flyball competition, a couple of surprise new additions, including a wiener dog race and Skyhoundz discs, and many “Best in Show” contests are just some of the activities and exhibitions rounding out a full day of activities for dogs and their owners.
“Dog tournaments are back,” Buell said. “We still have our pet contests and pie-eating contest, along with canine ‘Good Citizen’ testing all day long, Seattle Flydog Flyball, demonstrations on First Aid and CPR, ‘Reading with Rover,’ nail-trimming and our third annual ‘Fashions and Rescues’ runway dog show, showcasing adoptable rescue dogs from five local rescue groups.”
Vendor forms, booth prices and general event information are available on the Poochapalooza website at http://poochapalooza.org. Submit forms by May 1 to take advantage of cost-saving early bird rates. For more information, contact Buell by phone at 425-268-5285 or via email at labuell@frontier.com.
M-DOG is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit group made up of all volunteers. To find out more about M-DOG, its meetings and work parties at the dog park, go to www.m-dog.org.
