Kiwanis Howl-O-Ween dog festival is a howling success

Over 60 dogs and their owners converged on Courthouse Square in Houma Saturday for what appeared to be a very successful fundraiser for the Kiwanis Club of Houma.

The first-ever "Howl-O-Ween" dog festival featured a short parade, various competitions including best costume, cutest dog, ugliest dog and a howling contest.

There was even a coronation, as Wagner, owned by Celeste Gautreaux, and Cinnamon, owned by Nicole Dominique, were crowned king and queen of the festival, respectively.

Gautreaux said Wagner, obviously a very mixed breed, was a recent rescue whose exact lineage is still waiting for a DNA test. Wagner also won the Most Obedient Dog contest.

"I'm so honored, I'm very blessed," Gautreaux said. "It means a lot. I'm about to cry."

Joe Kopfler, the Kiwanis Club's Halloween event chairman, said the festival was popular enough that it will almost certainly become an annual occasion.

"We had beautiful weather, and that had a lot to do with it," Kopfler said. "We had about 30 registrants before the event. We thought we'd get a few more at the event itself, and it turns out we doubled it and more. We don't have an actual count, but we had close to 70 dogs, maybe more."

The event was a fundraiser for the Kiwanis through sponsors and donations from participants.

The Kiwanis Club sponsors a number of activities benefiting the Houma community with special focus on children such as the Terrific Kids program in local schools, the Play It Again Terrebonne instrument loan program to local school bands, Books for Bikes, scholarships to Nicholls State University and Fletcher Technical Community College, high school Key Clubs and volunteering to help with events of other local nonprofits.

Staff Writer Scott Yoshonis can be reached at 850-1148 or syoshonis@houmatoday.com. Follow him on Twitter @Foster_Cajun.