This year marked the 27th year of the Minnesota Renaissance
Festival. We normally go to it as a family, but since we
were asked to help promote retired racing greyhound adoption
at the festival, we took our greyhounds instead. (The kids
didn't mind in the least!)
For those that may not know this, we recently adopted two retired racing greyhounds. Their names are "Louie" and "Debbie".
I must say, the experience was different this year. First off as part of the deal, in exchange for manning a booth and answering questions about our dogs and the adoption program in general we received FREE admission to the Festival! HUZZAH. (By the way, in case you didn't know the word HUZZAH is a renaissance period cheer!)
The attention began as we arrived and started walking our dogs into the place. Greyhounds are unusual looking dogs and I must warn you, are very addictive. Personally, at this point, I can't imagine owning any other kind of dog.
I arrived at the costume department with high hopes of getting
fitted for a suit of armor worthy of HeyYouSir even though the
letter we had received said we would be peasants -- doesn't
hurt to dream, does it?
They held up their part of the bargain and I received a rather common looking peasant garb. We held up our part of the bargain by showing our dogs at the booth for over three hours. They had record attendance at the Festival that day and I can believe it as a steady stream of folks came by asking variations of the same questions:
"What kind of dogs are those?""Can I pet them?""How old are they?""Are they hyper?""Do they need a lot of exercise?"and many more...
By the way, the answers to the above questions are:
They are retired racing greyhounds."Sure, they LOVE to be petted.""Our dogs are 4 years old.""No, what you see is what you get.""Just like any dog, they benefit from taking regular walks with you."
(Which give the owner some exercise as well.)and many more...There were a total of twelve greyhounds at our booth, giving folks an idea of the variety of colors that greyhounds come in. (As a side note, we were right next to the Jousting area, so I got to see some good old- fashioned jousting for the first time. Armored knights on horseback with lance in hand were competing. Much different from my keyboard-related knight experiences! By the way, a knight must get good tips. After the show he walked around the crowd with his helmet in hand. I happened to notice that his helmet was FULL OF MONEY!... HUZZAH.)
Our time at the booth went quickly and soon we closed up the booth and got a chance to look around at the festival. I can attest that one does not travel far in a crowd with a pair of greyhound without being stopped and asked questions. We were wise enough to bring some brochures with us as we walked to give information to folks that showed a genuine interest in adopting a greyhound. I even had some stickers for the kids saying "I met a retired racing greyhound." So for another three hours, Teresa, Louie, Debbie and I wandered around the festival acting as a sort of mobile greyhound promotion booth. An experience which I enjoyed very much. I would not hesitate to repeat the experience next year...
The thing I donated was my time and the only real monetary benefit was the FREE admission into the Festival. In exchange we exposed the public to a breed of dog that they might not have seen before, teaching them about what greyhounds are really like (and dispelling some myths) and perhaps giving them the idea (just as Teresa and I had not long ago) of adding a wonderful new addition to your family. An addition that some refer to as "the 45 mph couch potato!"
Huzzah,
HeyYouSir :)
"Man loves little and often, woman much and rarely."
- Bailey--Festus
Last modified on September 14, 1997 A.D.