San Francisco DogFest: Wild costumes, big cheers and one tough call
Dani Pollen, dressed in her soccer uniform, and Zuzu, dressed as an axolotl salamander, walk the red carpet during the costume contest at the 19th annual DogFest in San Francisco's Duboce Park on Saturday. DogFest was a fundraiser for McKinley Elementary School, where Dani attends second grade. (Danielle Echeverria/S.F. Chronicle)
When Dani Pollen, a second-grader at McKinley Elementary School in San Francisco, walked the red carpet with her dog, Zuzu, at Duboce Park on Saturday, the crowd went wild.
Dani, dressed in her soccer uniform, juggled a ball with her knees as 2-year-old Zuzu strutted around in her pink axolotl salamander costume, pulling on her leash to greet the onlookers sitting on the ground surrounding the red carpet. Dani's fellow elementary schoolers shrieked with delight, cheering on the small doodle mix, who doubled as the mascot for their soccer team, the Attacking Axolotls.
Dani and Zuzu were entrants in the best costume portion of the 19th annual DogFest, a fundraiser for McKinley Elementary. In addition to the best costume competition, the dog show included several other categories as well, including best coat, best trick, best mutt and best lap dog. Between contests, the thousands of attendees could shop at several canine-focused booths or rack up tickets playing carnival games to get a prize.
Though Zuzu was a crowd favorite, the competition was tough: There was a wiener dog dressed as a hot dog with his owners dressed as ketchup and mustard, a dog whose wheelchair was fashioned as a kissing booth and who was eager to give those kisses out to the crowd, and a corgi dressed as Justin Bieber at his recent Coachella performance, decked out head to tail in red with a fake laptop to boot.
Even last year's winner was back in the competition. Roi, a 1½-year-old labradoodle, took home the gold last year dressed as Karl the Fog. His owner, Griselda Ponce, knew then that they'd be back this year for more of the fun.
Ponce said she considered going for a local theme this year as well, but instead felt inspired when she was watching the Artemis II launch this month.
"We thought, ‘Why don't we make an ode to this amazing mission?'" she said. So, she went to the craft store and handmade Roi's costume, dressing him up as the Orion capsule using glittery, star-speckled tule that, together with his black fur, made the perfect outer space backdrop to the reflective silver capsule that sat on top. She even attached a small astronaut doll to the back. The costume took five hours to put together, she said.
That left the judges, Park Police Station Capt. Angela Wilhelm, the station's new captain, Sean Frost, state Sen. Scott Wiener, and two Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Guard T'aint Bernard and Guard N. O'Pansies, with a tough decision.
Tonga walks the red carpet at the 19th annual DogFest in San Francisco's Duboce Park on Saturday. (Danielle Echeverria/S.F. Chronicle)
After huddling together in careful deliberation, the officers, the sisters and Wiener reached their decision, awarding Hugo, the kissing booth pug, with first prize. Second place went to Dora, a pup dressed in black-and-white stripes escaping from Alcatraz, running from her owner, who was dressed as a jail and escorted by an SFPD officer. Last year's winner, Roi, came in third for his Orion capsule look.
"We'll be using this costume for the rest of the year!" said Ponce, Roi's owner.
As the contests continued, the crowd stayed glued to the edges of the red carpet, cheering each of the dogs on as they showed their stuff. During the best coat competition, several of the children reached out to pet the dogs to get the full coat experience; each of the judges gave the dogs a pat as well to fully appreciate their fur. And during the best lap dog competition, the audience hushed so the dogs could focus on leaping into their owners' laps.
The best trick competition came with mixed success, much to the delight of the onlookers. A pup named Yuzu was meant to jump through a bright orange hoop, but instead simply ran past it several times. When Yuzu finally did make it through, the audience erupted in cheers.
"I mean, unbelievable!" the day's emcee, Ned Buskrik, exclaimed as Yuzu surveyed the crowd with pride.
Roi, a labradoodle, dressed up as the Orion capsule during the 19th annual DogFest in San Francisco's Duboce Park on Saturday. (Danielle Echeverria/S.F. Chronicle)
Though Zuzu didn't take home the win for best costume, Dani and her brother, Jake, a fifth-grader, weren't too disappointed. They considered the possibility that they should have gone with their original costume idea, matching gymnasts - both Dani and Zuzu had their leotards on under their Attacking Axolotls costumes, just in case - but in the end, having Zuzu be the soccer mascot felt right.
"Just look at how aggressively she's defending her soccer ball," Jake said, scratching Zuzu's head as she kept the soccer ball between her front paws.
