Is there anything scarier than a towering six-foot rabbit walking toward you? Apparently not. At least so far as the Best Friends Howl-o-ween costume contest was concerned! Bunny manager Debby Widolf took first prize in the scariest costume category at the recent Best Friends Howl-o-ween open house and Spooker Run. The costume party was just the icing on the cake, though. The whole day was packed full of spooks and surprises.
Here’s how the festivities began. Open to all visitors, volunteers, and employees, the open house and Spooker Run was a chance to visit each area of the sanctuary. For those who wanted to participate in the Spooker Run (poker run), there were playing cards at each stop. After visiting all five locations, you would have a complete poker hand at the end. Best hand won prizes. The true fun, however, was traveling around and seeing all the ghosts and goblins in their creepy best around the sanctuary.
At horses and pigs, the first stop of the day, you’d find Harley the pig dressed in his devil costume, waiting to greet visitors. Some of the horses and Sweetheart the donkey were giving cart rides as part of the fun. And for those lucky (or unlucky) enough to ride in Sweetheart’s cart, there was a little surprise waiting around the far end of the loop. A creepy ghoul was stashed under the blankets in the back of her cart and would rise up and scare the victims in the seats. The ghoul in question waited until the cart was out of sight so the people in line wouldn’t suspect a thing. Sweetheart loved that, by the way. She’s been trying to live down her name for years and feels she has finally scored a few points on the mischief side of the board.
The second stop was at parrots and wildlife, where creepy games and even creepier snacks were everywhere. (Perhaps the creepiest of all snacks was an arrangement of crackers situated beneath a stuffed parrot. We’ll let you guess what color the frosting globs ended up being.
Next on the list were rabbits, where more games, treats and prizes waited, not to mention the adorable sanctuary bunnies looking to say hello. Turns out that "normal" sized rabbits are a whole lot less scary than the six-foot variety — a very good thing! Around this time, sugar started kicking in from the various treat tables throughout the day, but nobody seemed to mind as they grabbed a gigantic stuffed-to-the-gills treat bag before heading over to cats.
At cats, more goodies, hot apple cider and hot chocolate threatened to send visitors into a full-blown sugar coma, while C.C. the cat presided over the festivities “dressed” as a cow. (C.C. has spots and was sitting in a cow-pattern cat bed.) If anybody wanted to pass over the treat bowl and give C.C. a nice head scratch, she sure didn’t mind one bit. By now, those playing the Spooker Run had four cards and they were either excited or disappointed by their chances. If you’re sitting on three kings, life is good. But if you’re holding an eight, a jack, a three and a five? Well … it’s a good thing the animals were so cute! At any rate, everybody made it over to Dogtown, the last stop on the list — which is also where the costume contest took place.
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Pumpkinhead! |
The towering bunny was only the beginning. There were dogs dressed as pumpkins, people dressed as rock band groupies, and one very brave Best Friends’ photographer who carved and wore a 26-pound pumpkin on her head! (Way to go, Sarah!)
The top act of the night, however, was a group of four friends visiting from around the country who met originally on the Best Friends Network. Going by the collective name of "The Fab Four," these enterprising ladies each dressed up to represent one of the four Best Friends’ campaigns: First Home Forever Home, Puppies Aren’t Products, Focus on Felines and Pit Bulls: Saving America’s Dog.
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The Fab Four |
Each had a makeshift laptop accessory draped around her neck with a corresponding web screen and dressed the part of the campaign they represented. ("Theresa the pit bull" with her classic ball in the mouth pose added a great touch to one costume.) Joining the Fab Four was Best Friends Network support manager Joy Moffat, playing the part of the "Network Fairy," to complete the ensemble. When the laptops "crashed," the Network Fairy fixed the problem. The Fab Four and Network Fairy won best in show.
From spine-chilling decorations to cute animals who couldn’t scare a fly on a dare, the Howl-o-ween open house was a resounding success. Now if somebody could just convince Harley the pig to take off his devil costume. …
Story by David Dickson
Photos by Molly Wald and courtesy of Tamara Fleck
Learn more about the four campaigns, represented as the award winning costumes, on the Best Friends Network.
And some of those “spooky” sanctuary residents featured at the festivities are available for adoption, including Sweetheart the donkey, C.C. the cat and Theresa the dog.
