Costume pet parade part of Hoots and H'Owls fall festival
Costumed canines and their proud owners came out in force Saturday for the fourth annual Hoots and H'Owls fall festival and Halloween celebration at Randhurst Village in Mount Prospect.
The Daily Herald-sponsored event featured a costume pet parade contest that drew 50 entries. Many owners also got into the spirt by dressing up themselves to team with their pet's theme.
For instance, siblings Shane and Macee Sprecher of Elk Grove Village wore bee and beekeeping gear to compliment their laps dogs Tide and Bonnie respectively dressed in bee and flower costumes. The Sprechers won second place.
Even more complex was the third-place winner known as "General Pawter." It featured Denise Brigham of Streamwood in camouflage fatigue trousers to compliment her miniature Yorkie named "Hairy Pawter." He sat inside a remote-control Stewart M-4 tank that towed a trailer with two tinsel American flags and signs supporting U.S. veterans.
"He actually has a fleet of vehicles," Brigham said, noting that she and her husband, Adrian, won top prizes for Hairy Pawter in past pet parades with him appearing with a miniature firetruck and limousine. "We're in the process of making him a Stanley Cup Blackhawks Zamboni."
Brigham might have wanted to stick with a sports concept since the top parade prize went to a Cubs baseball costume.
Hannah McAlpin of Elgin dressed up as a Wrigley Field concessionaire, while her lap dog, Minnie, was dressed in blinged-up Cubs gear and sunglasses. Minnie sat inside McAlpin's blue tray amid boxes of popcorn. It's a safe bet that the judges factored North Sider hopes of a Cubs appearance at this year's World Series into McAlpin's first-place prize.
"Hopefully the Cubs will win the World Series," McAlpin said, adding that she also maintains a Facebook and Instagram account online for her dog. "We're just trying to bring some cheer to everybody."
The free Hoots and H'Owls fall festival also featured family events like face painting, pumpkin decorating and a keepsake hat creation table. Two stilt walkers dressed up as the Frankenstein monster and his bride also roamed the grounds with sculptures of witches and castles by The Sand Sculpture Company. The Stillman Nature Center in South Barrington also had owls on hand for people to pose with for photographs.