During tonight’s January food truck rally, dozens of athletic dachshunds will gather at the starting line in hopes of becoming the very first victor of the esteemed wiener dog race.
With the inaugural Bark in the Park event, Jane Waters, executive director of Historic Plant City Main Street, said she hopes to soon make the downtown area “fur-baby friendly.”
The event will feature pet-themed vendors including a pet photo station and paw painting where pets will have their paws painted with dog-safe paint and placed upon a canvas by the East Hillsborough Art Guild of Plant City. Walden Lake Animal Clinic will also be on site offering reduced rates for micro-chipping and mini-vaccines.
“Anything that is fur-friendly tends to be very successful,” Waters said. “Of course we want to get people downtown. When we say people it’s also their babies, their furry babies.”
The event had been planned prior to Waters taking the helm at Main Street, however, she plans to ensure Bark in the Park becomes an annual celebration. Originally, Main Street was planning on hosting the event all day on a Saturday in 2017. As things came up, that date was shifted and it was paired with the monthly food truck rally in downtown.
As the event flourishes, Waters said she hopes to one day be able to make it an annual stand alone event, a highly-anticipated gathering of pups of all sizes. For now, she intends to use the current time slot as a kick-off for Main Street’s new vision for the food truck rallies.
Soon, each of the monthly rallies that draw hundreds each month to historic downtown Plant City will feature its own unique theme. Because January is partnered with Bark in the Park, the vendors are all pet-focused. In March, Waters said the plan is to have a steampunk and art-themed rally with vendors matching the unique topic.
Bark in the Park is just one of the many events that make Main Street an exciting organization for people to get involved with in an attempt to aid in revitalizing downtown.
“I’m hoping that our Main Street is exciting and that people want to engage and become a part of what we’re doing,” Waters said. “Our events are only one component of that. We’re here to get people shopping in the downtown area, to make sure that retail stores are successful as much as possible and I think I would love to see our Main Street just be an exciting organization to be a part of.”
The pet takeover comes with far more than stylized vendors and mouth-watering food. Waters is introducing Plant City’s very first wiener dog race, a feat she said will inarguably be a highlight for the community if the number of calls she’s received since announcing the addition are any indication.
“For me, as an event planner, I’ve been to many pet festivals over my career and I love the energy of a pet festival,” Waters said. “Wiener dog races are hilarious, though, and people just show up. It always works the same way, too. They say ‘Oh my dog isn’t going to race but we’ll come watch.’ Then they get there and they’re like ‘Oh my dog is racing.’”
Registration for the race ends at 6 p.m. and the race will be held at 7 p.m. near the Robert W. Willaford Railroad Museum. She said if there is an abundance of entries, they will hold multiple races so every dachshund will have a chance to run for the glory.
“For the wiener dog race, if somebody comes with a dog that even closely resembles a wiener dog, it’s gonna happen,” Waters said. “And I’m not talking about costumes on labradors. Because people get creative, let me tell you.”
As the event expands, the goal is to continue to add other breed specific activities. The racing, however, will forever be the wiener dog’s coveted tour de force. After all, Waters said downtown Plant City doesn’t exactly have an area sufficient for racing Great Danes.