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Community Corner

Four-Legged Fundraising Fun at Bark for Life

Rose Tree Park hosted hundreds of people and dogs on Sunday and raised thousands of dollars to fight cancer.

Who let the dogs out? Scores of Media-area dog owners who wanted to contribute to the ongoing fight against cancer, that's who.

Dozens of vendor tables set up shop around the on Sunday, giving a portion of their profits to Relay for Life. This event, Bark for Life, focused on dogs and dog owners, and was the second of its kind in Media. Last year's Bark for Life raised $5,000, and at the end of the day Sunday, chairwoman Marsha Peterson had a good feeling that they would surpass that number this year.

"We've had a really good turn out, definitely bigger than last year," Peterson said. "We had more expenses this year; T-shirts, tchotchkies, things like that—but things that we can reuse next year. Still I think we'll beat (last year's total)."

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The vendors included several selling food and drink items, but most focused on cancer awareness, dog-related goods or both. Among those in attendance was , a boutique on Orange Street that specializes in fashion products for women going through cancer treatment. There were handmade leashes, opportunities for dogs to pose with the Easter Bunny, awareness and dog earrings by local handmade jewelry artist Magpie's Jewelry Box. Racecar driver Brian Gomez was there with his car, raising awareness for OneLapForDogs.com, a charity that helps to place service dogs to assist those who need it.

To spice things up, there were a number of events held for the dogs and their owners, including several contests like Best Dressed, Best Trick and Best Kisser. Check out the photo gallery to see the winners. There was a raffle, the winner of which gave her $360 winnings right back to Bark for Life in a tremendous gesture of true charity. A firetruck raised its ladder to full extension to do the Bone Drop, the unleashing of a bag full of bones over a bullseye, with one entrants' name written on each bone.

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The main event was the walk—essentially a dog parade around the grounds of the park. The walk was led by second-year Grand Marshall, a Great Dane named Chile who is widely recognized and loved around Media. Chile's owner, Hank Hangsterfer, described how he and Chile got involved in the charitable effort.

"They (Bark for Life) approached me. They wanted a 'spokesperson' dog, somebody that everybody would remember, that a lot of people know from around town. Probably half the people here today are here because they came up to us on the street and said, 'Hey, I have a dog, too. How can I help?'" Hangsterfer said.

Chile was the big celebrity of the event, constantly shaking paws with admirers and happily receiving the affection of dozens of children. It's not hard to guess who's probably going to be leading the parade again next year.

 

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