The Cutest Parade in Milwaukee: Brady Street Pet Parade

If you are a dog lover, this post is for you.  Yesterday, I attended the 11th annual Brady Street Pet Parade on the east side of Milwaukee, and although I had been to this adorably fun event a few times before, I had never seen so many participants before.  The Pet Parade raises money for the Wisconsin Humane Society, and features many vendors from the restaurants that line this popular boulevard to local animal-related shops. 

This year's sponsors included The Zoom Room, a canine training center, the doggy daycare center, Central Bark,

And Eco Pet, a local alternative to the big-box pet supply stores, featuring environmentally-conscience pet food, toys and accessories.

As you can see below, the day was packed full of events including agility demos at Zoom Room, a costume contest, pet/owner look-alike contest, a pet blessing, music and, of course, the parade itself.

This was a day for pet owners to show their creativity:

Make new friends:

And even get as dolled-up as their pets:

I took so many photos yesterday of most of the doggy costumes, but here are some of my favorites from the day.  This corgi was cute to begin with, but as soon as his owner put on his jester costume, he was a crowd-stopper.  A lot of people were trying to get a picture of this little guy.

I heard from this dog's owner that his costume is Rolf from The Muppet Show.

 

And then there's these two.  Presumably, brother and sister, I thought they were adorable.  The girl is obviously a cheerleader, but I thought (from far away) that the boy was a mini-Shakespeare.  That was before I saw the bling dollar-sign necklace, and figured out he's a pimp.

 



After the general milling around while the participants registered, the dogs who were in costume were lined up and paraded in front of a panel of three judges for the contests. 

Once in front of the judges, they were assessed by their costume, their likeness to their owner, and their tail-wagging ability.  This guy was fun as he tried to get his matching dog to wag its little stub of a tail.

And here are the winners!  The first dog (pictured at the top as well) won the costume contest, the duck dog came in 2nd, and the pug pictured 3rd (with his owner's baby) won the owner/dog likeness prize.  The tail-wagging winner (one of the many dachsunds) was MIA.

After the prizes were handed out, the parade began.  The parade went down most of Brady Street to St. Rita's for a pet blessing.

 

This band, Tropical Tomorrows, led the parade, which I think was a first this year.

 



Despite the cold weather, it was, once again, a very fun way to spend the day.  I got to see a lot of ingenious dog costumes and spend some time on my favorite street in Milwaukee.  Come back Wednesday when I will have more costumed dog photos to share from the day.

This post is also featured in I (heart) art Bloghop Tuesday.  To see more posts, just click here.