Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Cirque du Sausage - 2015 FUNdraiser

While not everyone loves a clown, at least 297 dachshunds enjoy a good circus. 


Cirque du Sausage rolled up a record breaking attendance and we hope you all had as much fun as it appeared.

The record was broken by over 100 dogs. Our hardworking Canteen A-Team had no idea what the day had in store for them. No left overs to take home from this Carnival that's for sure. Hot dogs, drinks, cupcakes, coffee - out the door it all went as fast as they could say "would you like a dachshund stubby mug with that" (we still have some of those in stock for those of you who didn't pick one up).

Our resident clowns and their handlers kicked things off down at Side Show Alley with the ball toss, kissing booth, shooting range, ball pit and the TUNNEL of DOOM. And to keep the blood sugar up we served up popcorn and fairy floss like any self respecting circus would.



This year's photo booth was an extravaganza all of it's own.  Special thanks to Lisa and Andrew for coming up with this beauty. TJ was the magician behind the camera for the photo booth and the magic pixies will be developing those for you all shortly.




The fashion parade demonstrated the creativity of all our human members and the patience of all the doggy ones.  There were lions and lion tamers, clowns, prancing ponies, vampire bats, supermen, pumpkins, Chinese dragons, ring masters, sailors, convicts and  velocoraptors (who may actually have been dinosaurs or crocodiles, but those things are super scary and I wasn't getting close enough to find out). We also had a few truly fabulous people who dressed up to match their dogs.  You guys are the life of the party and we salute you. Plus the best one won a prize!



There was spot of inconveniently timed rain, so we were thankful for the cover of the Kings Meadow Polo Club, and your new big top marquee. The clouds quickly passed and we were ready to race.

Not to be outdone by Melbourne (who stole our idea anyway) we had our traditional race track laid out.  Some enterprising souls uses the markers to do some agility training which gives us an idea for next year. We were a little surprised by the level of competitiveness this year so we may be testing owners for 'roids next time around. The dogs were much more relaxed about the proceedings.


The golden oldies, dachshunds over 9, took a turn around the parade ground.   Some of them still looked like springy youngsters as they took a turn about the park and are a credit to their loving homes. Some of those homes are more recently acquired than others as at least two or our seniors are former Dachshund Rescue dogs.


It's not a circus without a few special performers.  Dachshunds are not by nature the tightrope types, but we saw Gus show off his soccer skills, and some dropping and rolling, begging and playing dead from the rest of the troope.


Back at the Business end the silent auction and shop sales were humming along. The raffle prizes this year were a wonderful collections and we're sure the winners were indeed grinners. The silent auction for the cane dachshund chair will be continuing this week on Facebook.  The highest bid on the day was $250, but I expect we can do better than that for this quality product.

The biggest downer of the day were the uninvited guests who snuck in without making a gold coin donation. The bull ants meant there was some little licking of wounds and handing out of anti-sting cream and well as some retiring injured.  We will see if there is anything we can do to reduce the impact of those little devils for next year.


The best news is that through all of your support and generosity we raised $5,672 for the charities Long Dogs WA supports namely Dachshund Rescue Australia, Pay it Forward Dachshund Community Scheme, Devoted 2 Dachshunds Rescue and Storybrook farm.

This year the honour roll of thank yous is extensive.  We had a great bunch of people working away to put the day together and a stack of big hearted folk who donated good and services for sale or raffle on the day. On top of that we had people who came along on the day and gave of their time to help run stalls and events, and to do a tour of duty at the gate collecting donations and directing traffic. A really terrific effort, we couldn't have done it without you.

An extra special mention this time around to Linda Harwood who has gifted Long Dogs WA with a fabulous Marquee to keep for our very own.  This will be a huge bonus for all future events and we really appreciate her generosity.

The list of donations is amazing and included;

Dachshund dress, Bowan therapy, dog treat packs, wine, dog beds, stroller, statue, calendars, greeting cards, hand crafted ceramic dishes, dog toys, balls, gift cards, cupcakes, more cupcakes, framed cross stick, Patches the dachshund doll, ties, fresh free range chicken and duck eggs, tea towels and more.

So let's give a big hurrah for all our donors, helpers and organisers (and my sincere apologies to anyone we've missed.  We know there are more of you than we have listed here, but we didn't get names for everything)

Jo and John, TJ & Mike, Chiara and Vince, Josephine, Bec, Andrew and Debbie, Jane, Sharleeen and Mel, Sarah and Kingsley, Sary, Jenna, Sheila, Yulanda, Lisa, Heidi, Zoe, Lucy, Merissa, Kate, Sarah's Mum, Tamara, Mercedes, Theresa, Lucibel from the Urban Hound Dog Treat Company, Sherylee, Sharron, Diane, Sally, Anja from InTouch Bowen Therapy, Stefanie, Sharon, Pet Barn MidlandCatapipe Pet Products, Marion, Gemma, Ellen, Rozy and Geoff, Kim, Michaela, Sarai, Nicole and Melissa plus all of our guest judges on the day and our gate keepers.

And of course, thank you to the families of the 297 dachshunds who came along to have a fun day out. Without you we are just a bunch of people standing around in funny outfits looking a wee bit silly, so thanks for coming along and making it such a great event.  We hope to see you all again next year.
For more photos from Cirque du Sausage, check our facebook group (you'll need to be a registered member) or our online gallery for pictures by this roving photographer who's happy to get licked by cute puppies for a good cause.

No comments:

Post a Comment