RAZIMUS was a real star and totem tennis skills were rewarded during one of the last events of the Bathurst Winter Festival.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Pet Parade, on Sunday morning, allowed cat and dog owners to show off their companions.
The festival's pet competition, introduced at last year's festival, asked pet owners to submit their pet photos and videos online.
The finalists in some categories were invited to appear in Kings Parade for a small performance and for the winners to claim their prize in person.
"This is a semi-new event," Bathurst Regional Council manager of events Hannah Welch said.
"Last year we made it part of the Winter Festival as an online thing during COVID; it just gave people the opportunity to be involved by submitting their dog tricks and cat tricks.
"This is the first year we've been able to make it part of the festival and make it an activity here in the park."
To limit the number of competitors at the park, and the number of animals in close vicinity, the Pet Parade featured some online categories and some non-online categories.
Dog owners Andrew and Christine Smith took out one of each: Razimus Smith was presented with the most creative winter dress-up award and Nahla Smith secured the best dog trick award for her totem tennis skills.
"Definitely the star of the show was Razimus, a beautiful, well-dressed dog over there," Ms Welch said.
"Obviously doing something with a lot of animals in one place can be challenging, so we wanted to start small this year and build on it for future years.
"Seeing the crowd down here, seeing a well-run event, lots of dogs down here dressed up, it's definitely something we'll build on for future years, which is really cool."
The categories included best-dressed dog and owner, best-dressed cat and owner, most creative winter dress-up, most unique/interesting cat, best dog trick, cutest photo of pound adopted dog and cutest photo of pound adopted cat.
The winners and runners-up were selected by a representative from Mars Petcare Australia, which also donated the prizes.
Ms Welch thanked the company for its involvement and for donating the prizes.
What do you think? Send a letter to the editor
Amy Rees
Journalist at the Western Advocate in Bathurst since May, 2021.
Journalist at the Western Advocate in Bathurst since May, 2021.
