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Brazos Valley Reporter |
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| Other Articles by the Brazos Valley Reporter |
Brazos Animal Shelter Wiener Fest 2007
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| LINKS: Animal Shelter Special Page |
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What started out as a dream 3 years ago became a reality on the most beautiful Saturday morning in months as the 2007 Brazos Animal Shelter Wienerfest unfolded before her eyes. Judy LeUnes attended the Buda Wiener Races in 2004 and as she sat there thought I have to make this happen in our community. In Buda, the event was a fundraiser for the Buda Lions Club. Judy knew our community would embrace and support the idea and that it would fit well as a fundraiser for the Animal Shelter. | |
| Equestrian Life in the Brazos |
First, Judy applied for the Brazos Animal Shelter board. After becoming a board member, she put together a video and presented her dream to the board. Needless to say.the board approved. Dr. Nancy Scheinost, chair of the Fundraising Committee was a huge supporter of the idea and immediately began working with sponsors, vendors, and the media. At first Judy thought she would be happy if there were 30 dogs for the first year of the races.¯ However, Judy's dreams were to become a much larger reality. As the registrations came in, Judy began to get excited! This was going to be a GREAT Wienerfest!¯ Registrations were from as far away as Mesa, Arizona. Most came from the Brazos Valley, but the Woodlands, Austin, Dallas, and San Antonio were well represented. | ||
| Pet Services Classifieds | Judy had a lot of help along the way and at Saturday's event. The Buda Lions Club loaned their starting gates for the races and the College Station Noon Lions Club helped run the races. In fact, Charles Handrick (Buda) called John Rauser with the local Lions Club and arranged to personally deliver the starting gates to Veteran's Park on a Sunday afternoon. The Lions Clubs put them together while Judy and Dr. Nancy Scheinost provided cheering and support! The two Lions Clubs worked together with Judy in many aspects of the event to help make it all happen. |  |
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Veteran's Park, a new facility in College Station that just opened last spring was the setting for Wienerfest. Judy attributes the success of this event in no small part to the total backing of Steve Beachy, Director of the College Station Parks and Recreation Department and his staff. They worked tirelessly to help set up the facilities, the race track, etc. Veteran's Park is a beautiful facility and we are so lucky to have such a great place for families to participate in such events. Some people may think that those are just softball fields, but we turned them into a Kid's Zone and a Wiener Dog Race Track.¯ |
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| But, the list goes on as the community backed this event. The community and our sponsors were unbelievable! NO ONE told us no¯ when we asked for sponsorships or help. The students at Texas A&M were fantastic workers! The Student Chapter of the American Veterinary Medical Association and Alpha Zeta worked all day along with the 4H, Girl Scouts, and many individuals who wanted to help the animals in our community.¯ |  An eagle watches over the new Veteran's park at sunset. |
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Down at the Brazos Animal Shelter they are still counting. But, here are some preliminary numbers to quantify how much this event exceeded everyone's expectations. For the Wiener Races, the total was 187, including 68 walk-ups. For the costume contests, walk-ups alone, who did not pre-register, totaled over 120. Overall attendance is estimated to be 1500 2000 people plus all those cute dogs ,Wieners and many more! Add to this the live music, vendors, kid's activities, a silent auction and more, and there was something for everyone! The costume contest categories included look-alike (owner and pet), couples (dog pairs), best dressed, funniest, and best of show. Other fun¯ categories included oldest, youngest, largest, and smallest (over 1 year). And, it was just awesome! You HAVE to see for yourself at our LifeintheBrazos.com Wienerfest 2007 Narrated Virtual Tour. And this is not a passing story for our media. It will remain on our website for all to enjoy as they have time. And, it should not become a passing story for you either. The Brazos Animal Shelter needs our help and support. Larger and improved facilities are needed and cannot be achieved in their current location. Land is needed and a new shelter is needed to meet the growing demand in serving the booming Brazos Valley. Please consider helping in any way you can. LifeintheBrazos.com is providing dedicated content on our media to the Brazos Animal Shelter to help them get the word out quickly about animals as they become available. New pictures and descriptions can now be posted to our media directly by the Animal Shelter within minutes after they become available, providing a longer window of opportunity¯ for animals in need of a home. And businesses who help support this by advertising on this page will see their ad cost donated directly to the Brazos Animal Shelter at 50% to 100% depending on the options chosen. EMAIL us for more details on how you can help the Animal Shelter while helping your business or call us at 979-218-5317. |
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Will this event happen again next year? We are already planning¯ says Judy and the dates have been set for October 25 and 26, 2008, making it a 2-day event next year. Soccer will not be scheduled and busing from nearby areas is being looked at to help alleviate parking problems. A 5K and half marathon are being added for Sunday morning and a chili cook off will round out the plans for a real Brazos Valley event! All I can say is I'm marking my 2008 calendar now! If you missed it this year, see our virtual tour and you will want to be there with us next year! My thanks to the Brazos Animal Shelter and all their supporters for their contributions to our community and our animals who need help, and for a FANTASTIC WIENER FEST enjoyed by all! It was all so professionally done that one would have thought this had been going on for years! Great job! |
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Don't miss this!! See our LifeintheBrazos.com Virtual Tour of the Wiener Fest 2007 by the Brazos Valley Reporter.
It's almost like being there! |
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- Brazos Valley Reporter with contributions from Judy LeUnes -
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