Dogs On Parade: "Howl-o-ween" takes over Main Street in Park City, UT

For our third year now, My wife Sarah and I dressed up our dogs for the October phenomenon known as Howl-o-ween in Park City, UT. Historic Main Street is the heart of this affluent ski town with its funky restaurants, bars and shopping. It's also the cultural epicenter for the über hip Sundance Film Festival. But for one-afternoon a year, the whole town goes to the dogs. Main Street is shut down to autos for a few hours while children are allowed to trick-or-treat at local businesses. But around 5pm the butt-sniffing mayhem begins. A town like this is full of dogs large and small. Their diverse owners have made this area their home for a variety lifestyle-oriented reasons and it makes for an eclectic arrangement of tail-wagging hilarity.

Our first year at the parade, we were a little reluctant to go overboard with costumes. Blü, our Weimaraner and Roxie our notoriously shy Siberian Husky were not used to dressing up and we expected some resistance. We found some little tutus at Target and tied them on. When we hit the scene and they saw all the other dogs in costume they got so excited that it's become one of our favorite oddities about this little town. This year we put a little more effort into it and found some hysterical dog-specific costumes. Roxie wore a Dorothy costume from the Wizard of Oz, while Blü was ecstatic in her Tin Man costume. They also exchanged "pleasantries" with the likes of Batman and Robin, Hanna Montana, Darth Vader, Wonder Woman, Yoda, Elvis, Buzz Lightyear, angels, devils, witches, princesses, pirates, you name it. And each dog seems to adopt a certain swagger in their costumes. Roxie, who normally hates crowds, was so brave in her costume — like she really was somebody else. Blü of course was her goofy self, but was noticeably proud of her new identity, and didn't seem all that eager to have it taken off.

Anyway, a good time was had by all. Maybe we'll see you and your trick-or-treater out there next year!