After living in Savannah, enjoying their pet friendly atmosphere and amazing pet fall festivals, we (Cora King and I) decided to bring something similar back to our hometown. Once we realized Paws, Animal Control, and Soul Saver Rescue were on the Broadway median of Market Days most every Saturday with dogs up for adoption, services and more, highlighting their efforts was something we found very important. 2012 was the birth of Broadway Paw-rade @ Market Days. Market Days wasn’t widely known then, so we wanted to highlight how cool a local market was for our town, in addition to the animal rescue centers presence. Since then, Market Days has majorly expanded, and they help us advertise. Columbus, we have grown so much in the past two years!
The Broadway Paw-rade is a full, fundraising event with animals, not limited to dogs, competing in a fun, costume contest for $10 on the Broadway stage. All proceeds go to Soul Saver Rescue, Columbus Animal Care & Control Center, & Paws Humane. We’ve been able to coordinate Paw-rade the Saturday before Halloween every year.
In addition to the Paw-rade on Saturday, October 25th, there will be Wounded Warrior 5K, Tree Climb, Hopegivers Walk-a-thon, Market Days per usual, Uptown Festival on Broadway and a rally! Basically, the Paw-rade is the party at the epicenter of all the action in Uptown Columbus! DJ CeeLo will be on the turntables and Natalie Fultz from WLTZ will be announcing. Amy Bryan, from the Chamber of Commerce, Rick McKnight, from the RiverCenter, and Kristi Parish, owner of Dramatic Paws, will be our judges for the most creative, cutest, and funniest pet costumes. The contestants will do their little turns on the catwalk across the stage, strutting their stuff to win and have fun!
Sadly, Soul Saver Rescue is closing. They have several heart worm positive dogs left, which are very expensive to treat. Thankfully, PAWS is donating their portion of proceeds this year to help us reach the goal of saving these precious pups. Please join us this year with your animals, family, and friends. Even if you can’t finagle your favorite pet into a creative costume, come show support. The Broadway Paw-rade is always an entertaining event and free to watch.
Written by Jacy Jenkins and Edited/Shared Vision of Cora King
Pictures by Stephanie Blair and Jacy Jenkins
