Long Island dogs show off their Halloween costumes at parade
Mia Garcia-Soberanis 18 months, from Hicksville playing with 2 dogs, during the 4th Annual Nassau Barkfest, Long Island's Largest Pet Costume Contest and Parade, held at the Harry Chapin Lakeside Theatre at Eisenhower Park in East Meadow, Saturday, Oct. 28, 2017. Credit: Uli Seit
Long Island dogs donned mythical, racy and even heroic costumes at Saturday’s pet parade in Nassau County — and in some instances, their owners did, too.
Draped in flame-colored feathers and with half-orange noses — thanks to pet-safe paint — Phoenix and Gryphon, half-brother golden retrievers, won “Best Overall” for depicting phoenixes rising from the ashes in the parade at East Meadow’s Eisenhower Park.
“We’re being the fire queens,” said Bonnie Abelew of Plainview, explaining why she and her sister, Beth, wore golden crowns and capes as they led their pair. “We always like to include a magical feature.”
Butters, a French bulldog, won the “cutest” category for portraying Aladdin. He wore a maroon fez and sat with perfect poise, next to his lamp, on his magic carpet atop the wagon towed by Jason Topolski, 37, of Port Washington.
The crowd, which officials estimated at 3,500, marveled at Butters’ calm. Though he can walk, a repaired herniated disc partly explains his exemplary sit-stay, Topolski said.
“Our thing is sitting in a prop,” he said, noting Butters has previously posed as the Mad Hatter at his tea party.
The fifth annual parade and costume contest featured rescue groups, which brought candidates to adopt or foster. The prizes were donated American Express gift cards, worth a total of $1,000, said the SPCA’s Gary Rogers.
Shakira, 7-year-old black and white terrier-pit bull mix, was transformed into Pegasus with a gold horn on her head and wings on her sides — neither of which she tried to shake off.
“She’s an angel,” said Sharyn Glowatz, 42, of Huntington,
Now being fostered, Shakira was named for the singer whose song was playing when Glowatz’s rescue group, Get A Bull, picked her up at a Queens NYPD precinct after officers found her just days from death in an abandoned building, she said.
Shakira was escorted by Scooter, a 7 1⁄2-month-old black pit bull mix dressed as a fireman. This foster was saved from a high-kill Louisiana shelter, Glowatz said. “I felt like he’s the all-American boy — and I think he would have tried to eat a Superman cape,” she added.
Other stars included a Great Dane, dressed as a medieval knight’s horse; a toy dog, towed in a model of the Titanic by his iceberg-costumed owner; and a Victoria’s Secret German shepherd, with angel wings, a tiger skirt and bra — and pink toe nails.
