As a part of the Canon City Music and Blossom Festival Pageant, which I have directed for the past 8 years, I have incorporated a community service effort for the candidates to take part in. I felt that it was important to encourage the candidates to participate in an event that showed our community that the pageant was much more than one glamorous night on stage.
After much deliberation on what type of event I wanted the candidates to be involved with, and more importantly WHAT organization I wanted us to assist, it finally came to me - animals. I have always had a deep compassion for animals, and feel that my pets make my life complete. So I created a walk that would benefit the animals of my community.
This year I organized the 2nd Annual "Tails on the Trail" Walk, which is a walk for both people and their furry friends to participate in. All the proceeds went towards the Fremont County Humane Society. The event was hugely successful, raising over $2,500. The Blossom Pageant candidates play a huge role in this event by getting people pre-registered to participate, in addition to getting monetary donations. To encourage the contestants to get a large amount of pre-registrations, an award is given on-stage the night of the Blossom Pageant to the girl who gets the most donations and pre-registrations. The winner this year got almost 30 people pre-registered!
The "Tails on the Trail" Walk was on March 13, and the weather was absolutely perfect! We had over 150 people participate, with many of them bringing their pets.
Pictured with the 2010 Blossom Pageant Candidates and in the front row is my good friend and assistant director, Jamie Patrick (pictured left), my dog Neiko, and me (pictured on the right).
This is the the inspiration for this event and THE TAIL of the "Tails on the Trail" walk.....my dog, Neiko.