Blog Barks

What better way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo than with a day at the Annual Market Street Festival in downtown Columbus, Mississippi. This festival has it all - food, drink, music, handmade crafts, a section devoted to children, and best of all, fido can join the family!

Market Street Festival began in 1996 and over the past 17 years has grown to be the largest special event and festival in Columbus, Mississippi and one of the largest in the state. Market Street Festival is held the first weekend in May each year and encompasses 12 city blocks and the Riverwalk in historic downtown Columbus. Market Street Festival has been named as a Top 20 Event in the Southeast by the Southeast Tourism Society for 14 consecutive years and has received many other prestigious awards throughout the years. A crowd of nearly 40,000 gathers each year to enjoy all the two day festival has to offer including over 250 arts, crafts and food vendors and dozens of special events, musical acts and activities such as 5K Run, Juried Arts Exhibit, Petting Zoo, Train Rides, Video Game Trailer, WCBI "Crank It Up" Car Giveaway, and Zumba in the Streets through-out the two day festival.

We had so much fun so we have a lot of pictures to share...

Time for a break!

It was 86 degrees which doesn't sound very hot but add in the humidity factor, the hot pavement, and Kirby coat which made for a very hot dogger. An easy fix as we headed to the children's section where we knew they had the fire truck set up for the kids and dogs to cool down. We didn't have to ask twice as the children happily took turns holding Kirby's leash.

He wasn't getting wet enough from the spray so one of the fireman offered to wet him down which, contrary to the pictures, Kirby very much appreciated.

A very happy wet rat!

Of course shopping is a must! There was so much to choose from but I was lured to the metal yard sculptures. It was hard to narrow down my choice but I decided I really liked these colorful flowers... $32.00 SOLD for $25.00!

Loved this quirky cat so I think I'm going to have to buy her next time I see her at another festival! Notice the pig next to her with the wings (when pigs fly comes to mind)...

BUT the most amazing metal sculpture has to be this charcoal grill pig! We loved it! Too bad we didn't have $499.00 in our pocket...

Another break for Kirby...

Then it was time to eat! What can be better than crawfish and an ice cold beer on a hot summer day! $10.00 for a big plate of crawfish, corn on the cobb, and potatoes, enough to share. $3.00 per beer.

We found a table under a canopy and dug in! Yum! My only complaint would have to be that there is no where to wash your hands so they smell like crawfish the rest of the day!

Kirby loves just about any seafood and crawfish is no exception. I'm pretty sure he ate as much as we did!

He also enjoyed the shade under the table as he people watched and waited for any dropped food.

Being the race fans we are we had to check out these local race cars. When we were asked if we wanted to take pictures of our dog sitting in one of the cars, we said "heck yea!"

Time for another break as we sat and listened to a band play

Here's one of the many pictures we took of Kirby with children who wanted to pet him.

Did I mention how Market Street Festival is truly dog friendly? There were dogs everywhere and, I'm happy to report, we never saw any poop - good pawrents! So many people running booths generously offered dogs a cool drink of water. We carried a water bottle for Kirby but he gladly accepted bowls of ice from kind vendors.

It was such a fun day! If you are ever in the area mark your calendar for this annual event!

I talked about the Cotton District Arts Festival earlier in the week letting you know what it's all about. You can read that post here.

I do want to mention how important it is to ASK before petting a dog who is out in public. Most dogs are friendly but can become startled by an unsuspected touch. Then there are the service dogs who are in work mode. We always have quite a few people ask if they can pet Kirby which we are more than happy to allow. Kirby is very well behaved especially with small children. He seems to know he must be gentle and very still. He has had people come up to pet him from behind which has caused him to bolt not knowing what just "grabbed" him. Some dogs could bite out of fear! Also, I never allow any children to pick him up since he is heavier than expected and could be dropped causing injury.

The day was cloudy but clear and rather chilly! Even the guys were wearing long sleeve shirts or pullovers. Kirby started the day wearing a shirt but as it warmed up, judging by hi tongue hanging out, I had to remove it.

This is a compilation of some of the many photos I took showcasing just how friendly and welcoming this event is for humans who want to bring along their fave furiend. The first picture touched me when this lovely lady asked to pet Kirby, then bent down to hold his face in her hands. I watched as tears flowed down her cheeks while she and Kirby shared an intimate connection. Afterwards she told me Kirby looked so much like her 11 year old Australian Terrier she lost this past December. I like to think Kirby understood her pain and was encouraging her to open her heart to another dog waiting for a home.

For lunch Doug and I grabbed a couple of delicious Greek lamb gyros from Zorba's Greek Tavern which Kirby was more than happy to finish for us while Tara and Jordan went for the best pizza in twon which can be found at Dave's Dark Horse. Soft drinks, water, lemonade and beer were available at several locations throughout the festival. We also enjoyed hanging out listening to some of the local singers and bands play while Kirby relaxed on the soft grass.

There were rows of booths up and down several streets filled with some great artistic choices. Since we were going on vacation I didn't want to spend too much but I did succumb to a well made iron rebar shepherd's hook to hang a few hummingbird feeders in my backyard. Tara purchased some jewelry and Doug found another hand carved wooden spoon to add to his growing collection.

We never miss this fun dog friendly event that just gets better and better each year!