The annual parade of characters

Suzie Harrison

It will be raining cats and dogs and -- well there is a good chance

of rabbits, rats, ducks, turtles and other beloved pets during the

seventh annual Laguna Beach Pet Parade and Chili Cook-off on Sunday.

The event is put on every year by the Laguna Board of Realtors and

was the brainchild of Larry Wilson and Caroline Haines. All the funds

raised help support Friends of the Sea Lion Marine Mammal Center,

Laguna Animal Shelter and Blue Bell Cat Foundation.

“We wanted to do a fund-raiser for animals and she wanted to do

the chili so I came up with the idea for the pet parade and combined

it,” Wilson said.

The day’s events include a competition among the furry friends, a

chili cook-off and a pet parade.

Categories in which the pets compete in are: most talented, most

handsome male, prettiest female, cutest small pet and best costume.

“We had a cat winner once, a duck that sucked a baby bottle and a

rat dressed as a bride,” Wilson said.

One year a woman dressed up as a poodle and barked at everyone,

needless to say -- that was no prize.

In 2000, a male dog took the “prettiest female” award. A scandal

ensued because a dog in drag won. Story has it that a woman entered

her canine in that category after seeing three pages of “most

handsome male” entries. Her logic was that people had always called

her dog a she and told her how pretty she was.

So she put two and two together and her four legged friend wagged

off with first prize. After all, the judges had chosen her “pretty

boy” and by the time she thought to say anything, photographers were

snapping away and she was not going to deny her pooch his/her 15

minutes of fame.

On the chili-er side of things, and no there are no chili dogs --

Mayor Toni Iseman, Chief of Police Jim Spriene, Councilman Wayne

Baglin as well as Anne Johnson and Bivens Hunt will be taste testing

to see who will win “Best Chili of the Year.”

Wilson said the event has grown steadily every year with 300 to

400 in attendance and 60 to 80 animals entered in the pet

competition. The parade comes after the awards are given and winners

and any animal in attendance are invited to join the revelry.

“When we put it together the first year no one knew about it,”

Wilson said. “The morning of the event we went down to Main Beach and

handed out hundreds of fliers, especially to everyone who had a pet,”

Wilson said. “We told them they could come for free and it became

really popular. The first year we maybe had 100 people there.”

He said that it was a real fun day with a lot of screwy things

that kept happening all day.

“It just kind of grew from there,” Wilson said.

Friends of the Sea Lion was the only benefiting organization in

the first year.

“We are proud of our long history of service to this community and

look forward to this event every year,” Friends of the Sea Lion

education director Beate Litz said. “We are grateful to the Laguna

Board of Realtors for their long time support for our organization.

All of the funds received from this event go directly to the care of

our marine mammal patients, demonstrating the true spirit of the Pet

Parade and Chili Cook-off and it’s importance to the community.”

Nancy Goodwin of the Laguna Beach Animal Shelter said that it

helps pay for the extra medical treatment of animals in their care,

as well as neutering and spaying.

Susan Hamil of Blue Bell Cat Foundation also lauded the event.

“They have been very generous and we have been able to benefit --

it helps us take care of our more than 90 cats,” she said.

The Pet Parade and Chili Cook-off is from noon to 3 p.m. at Tivoli

Too located at 777 Laguna Canyon Road. Call (949) 497-2474 to

register a pet. The cost is $7.50 if entered before 5 p.m. on Friday

or $10 at the gate. Admission is $3 and free for children 12 and

under.