Transcripts
Welcome to Animal Posse, the podcast dedicated to the
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:people and rescues making a
difference in the lives of animals.
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:Today's guest is Robin Beaulieu.
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:She's on the board of directors for
the Mystic Krewe of Barkus, and she's
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:also their volunteer coordinator.
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:. Hi Robin, how are you?
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:robin: Hey, Dixie.
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:How are you?
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:Dixie: I'm great.
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:I'm ready to talk about Barkus.
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:robin: Well, I'm excited to talk about
Barkus, one of my favorite topics ever.
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:This is like my 25th year with them.
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:So, we got a lot of history there.
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:Dixie: So what can you tell us for
people who don't know what Barkus is?
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:Tell us what Barkus is.
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:robin: Start at the beginning.
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:Okay, about 33 years ago Tom Wood who
is the owner of Wood's enterprises
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:Was with a couple of his workers
and friends Ken French and a couple
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:of other gentlemen I'll have to get
you their names in a minute and They
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:had started a margaret orr fan club.
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:She was a brand new weather lady here
in new orleans She was a fan Unlike
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:anything anyone had seen in the weather
before, she was very vivacious, she
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:had this red hair, and super charming.
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:So she had a fan club, and the fan
club would meet at the Queen's Pub,
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:which is upstairs at Good Friends,
a bar down on Dauphine and St.
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:Anne in the French Quarter.
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:Every week Tom Wood would bring his
little mixed terrier named Jojo,
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:female Jojo McWood, and Jojo did not
like a lot of people other than Tom.
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:She was known to be a barker,
A growler and an ankle biter.
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:So as you can imagine the other people
in the club were always really Not very
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:happy to see Jojo and one day they were
just complaining and complaining about
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:Jojo and Tom Why do you bring this dog?
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:She's a terror and he said I am going
to fix all of you I am starting a dog
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:parade in the french quarter and Jojo is
going to be the captain of that parade
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:for life and Barkus was born the year
after they got the permit from the city
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:and at first it was a very ragtag group.
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:And it quickly grew and grew
the first year they said, okay,
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:we can charge people for this.
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:So they really set it up as a nonprofit
and they shared a portion of the
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:profits with the Louisiana SPCA, which.
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:Okay.
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:This was 32 years ago, so this
was pre animal rescue, pre,
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:you know, pre all of that.
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:So they were pretty much the only game
in town, and since then the parade has
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:grown from about 20 participants to over
a thousand if you count people and dogs.
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:We usually have about 700 dogs,
10 brass bands, 5 marching krewes,
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:2 school bands, and we parade
16 blocks in the French Quarter.
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:The Sunday, which is the Sunday prior
to Bacchus Sunday, is Bacchus Sunday,
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:and we roll rain or shine, always.
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:Generally, our themes have to do
with movies, but we don't usually do,
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:after some big rain outs with Titanic
themes and things like that, we don't
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:really do boat or water based themes.
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:Anymore.
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:So that's the beginning.
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:And here, 32 years later, we are bigger
than ever, really exploded post COVID.
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:And we've given out, oh, probably about 1.
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:7 million to animal rescue
shelters and animal related.
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:Causes through the Gulf South region.
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:Dixie: Now you do have a king
and queen of Barkus too, right?
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:robin: Yes.
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:So, generally the king is
very well to do parents.
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:They can be any breed,
mixed breed, purebred.
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:We don't discriminate based on anything.
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:Color, race, creed, where you came from.
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:We don't care.
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:It's the king's largest.
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:That actually funds many of the
parade activities and our donations.
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:And the queen is usually a rescue.
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:We like to have a good story.
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:They don't necessarily need to be
as wealthy, let's say, as the king.
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:The king, as we said, the
king's largesse is really the,
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:helps us to put on the parade.
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:It's quite an undertaking,
costs a lot of money.
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:And, of course, it's really
important for us that, that.
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:The maximum amount of profits can go to
support animal rescue in any shape or form
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:Dixie: now for choosing the queen.
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:Can people, , submit a rescue story the
queen or how do y'all pick the queen?
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:robin: Yes, they can nominate.
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:It can be nominated
from the general public.
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:The board generally gets together and
we have several meetings about it.
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:We look at stories, we look at history.
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:There's a lot of factors that go into it.
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:So that's generally how
the queen is chosen.
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:Dixie: And what is the theme
for this year's parade?
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:robin: This year is vanity fur.
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:Barkus does the runway.
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:Dixie: With these themes when you
have people signing up their dog
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:to go in the parade you encourage
them to dress as the theme?
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:robin: Well, we try to make our themes
very general and as broad as we possibly
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:can A lot of people do dress with
the theme a lot of people will dress
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:with current events, you know, post
Katrina, we had a lot of FEMA and Blue
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:Roof parody costumes, just like you'd
expect in the city of like New Orleans.
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:Dixie: I can only imagine . Do
you have any kind of prizes?
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:People compete for like best costume or?
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:robin: We don't currently but that is
something we're thinking of bringing
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:to the party out on Armstrong Park I
don't know that it'll be this year.
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:But there was at one time many years ago
a costume contest, where they would get
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:a small prize really but post covid The
parade has just gotten so big that we
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:just haven't been able To fit that in, but
I think we're going to start doing some
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:additional programming at Armstrong Park.
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:You know, we have from 10:30 a.
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:m.
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:to 2 p.
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:m.
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:That's when the parade rolls and it
seems like a long time, but it really
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:gets quite crowded at the park and
there's a lot of people walking around.
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:So it's something we're going
to consider in the future.
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:Dixie: Now, as far as walking the
parade, you said it's 16 blocks.
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:How long does it take to pretty
much complete the parade?
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:robin: Once you roll out, if you're at
the beginning of the parade finishes
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:in about an hour and 20 minutes.
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:The end of the parade, once they
clear the park, it takes them, so
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:let's say the parade starts at 2.
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:The front people will finish about 3: 30.
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:It takes us about an hour and 20
minutes to completely clear the park.
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:Those people at the very back, once
they get out, it will take them
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:about an hour and 20 minutes as well.
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:The But we usually wrap up the parade
by 4:30 starts at 2 promptly at 2 PM.
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:We usually finish up about 4:30-4:45.
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:Phil: And they do have like food
vendors and stuff too at the event?
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:robin: Yes, we have food vendors
We have animal related products.
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:We have pet cetera there.
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:We have jefferson feed there there have
been years where we've had some of the
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:Clydesdale horses at the event we've
had pigs We've had a cat who was a
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:grand marshal one year a lot of people
don't realize it, but For many years,
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:we had cats actually in the parade.
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:The gentleman who used to bring his
cats would have them on a float.
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:It's been a few years since he's been,
but our membership is open to any
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:type of animal, believe it or not.
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:Dixie: Man, we need to
bring back a cat float.
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:robin: Hey, bring it back.
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:Dixie . We'll find room for you,
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:.
Dixie: So how do people sign up if they wanna get their dog in the parade
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:robin: they go to www.keweofbarcus.org
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:and I'll spell that www.keweofbarkus.org.
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:And I do want to talk about
a few things on the route.
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:So when we leave the park generally
the king and queen and some of
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:the royalty are toasted at our VIP
reviewing stand, which is at the corner.
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:It's actually at Good Friends.
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:We have the setup upstairs in
Queen's Pub, which is where
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:Barkis was born and germinated.
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:And we generally used to have Angela Hill.
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:She's retired.
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:But we still have our Margaret or she
is our grand Dam of Barkus and always
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:will be, and she is usually on the
street with a microphone, talking to
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:people, talking about the costumes.
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:Again, they do toast and different
presentations at that location.
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:Phil: And rescues, they do bring
in some of their volunteers, right.
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:To help work the parade route.
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:Yes.
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:robin: So to run the parade, it
takes 200 or more volunteers.
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:It's an enormous production.
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:And what we do is, we learned a long
time ago that we needed these volunteers.
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:So how can we get such a
massive amount of volunteers?
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:So we actually tie our donations in
to the furnishing of those volunteers.
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:So any rescue Provided that they furnish
us some volunteers, it can be as many
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:as 1 to 80 and they will receive a
donation based on that participation.
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:Phil: And some of the things that
these, volunteers do because I was
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:there a couple of years, right?
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:Yes.
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:. So, they tend to,, Yeah, I know, right?
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:Well, I was there one year when
it was a storm and raining.
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:Dixie: Yeah, but it was fun.
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:Yeah, it was a lot of fun.
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:Phil: But they can expect
to, , It was a lot of fun.
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:to do things hold corners,
hold traffic at corners, ? So, I
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:remember one year I was doing that.
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:robin: Actually, I think it's going
to be a little different this year.
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:We're going to have some heightened
security, so there shouldn't be any need
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:for our volunteers to be holding corners.
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:That is something we pay
the police very well to do.
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:And I believe that this year where it's
going to be different, but some of the
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:things the volunteers do and what our
greatest need is as krewe marshals.
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:And so they actually
walk along the parade.
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:They walk with our participants.
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:They try to encourage our
participants to keep up.
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:And at a steady pace, and they also
try to keep the crowds on the street
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:clear so that our parade can proceed.
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:Normally people don't
realize just how many.
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:Viewers we get it can in some places,
the viewing crowd can be 8 people deep.
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:So it does get quite crowded.
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:We do have barricades up at certain areas.
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:But I do think security is.
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:It's definitely going to be a whole
lot different from this year forward.
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:And I think I'd be remiss if I didn't
say you know, we were supposed to be
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:announcing our king in early January,
and of course we took a pause.
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:And push back the announcement of our king
due to the attack and the tragedy that
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:was suffered by you know the city of new
orleans and Our hearts went out to all
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:of the families and friends and everyone
affected by that And I think we're going
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:to have some element in the parade this
year that is going to acknowledge and
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:honor That particular event and that loss.
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:But back to the volunteers, I apologize.
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:Got off topic But so they essentially
walk they will sometimes push the floats.
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:We do have a very small amount of
floats Five to seven we try to put four
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:strong boys We do have a football team
from country day that has been really
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:great about helping us with that You
We have banners, we have signs, we have
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:lots of elements in the parade, so the
volunteers are really our lifeblood.
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:And They receive a t shirt which
can only be received get gotten
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:by volunteering for the parade
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:Dixie: now when the teenagers
volunteer to are they able to get
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:like volunteer credit for school.
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:robin: Yes, we are 501 C3 and we are we
do offer those service hours and a lot
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:of the schools have been really great.
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:We work with several different schools
country day being the biggest one.
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:But we're really very happy.
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:I think that the teenagers just bring
a joy and a spirit to our parade
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:that just adds a tremendous amount.
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:Dixie: Now, all traditional
Mardi Gras krewes do have a ball.
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:So does Barkus have a ball?
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:robin: Barkus does have a ball.
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:We have our ball at the Windsor Court
Hotel, so it's quite a nice ball.
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:We take over the top floor and just
as in a regular Mardi Gras krewe,
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:that is when our king and queen
Have a promenade into the room a
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:couple of hours into the big party.
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:We arrange for the King
and Queen to come in.
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:We do some presentations.
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:We talk about the King and Queen and
generally as of late we've had a nice
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:video that gives a little more in
depth history on the King and Queen.
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:We found that people sometimes
have a lot of questions.
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:They want to know what's
your favorite thing.
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:What do you like to do?
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:So we think that brings an element
to the ball where the people can
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:feel even closer to their royalty.
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:Dixie: Now, can anybody attend the ball?
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:robin: Anyone can attend the ball.
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:We, you can purchase
tickets on our website.
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:Generally, it's only a human event.
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:We will have a very few animals there,
and they're all going to be royalty.
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:We might have a duke or a duchess, and
definitely, as I said, it will be the
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:presentation of the king and queen.
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:They're only seen, this is their first
real public coming out, is at the ball.
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:We do a small event, On the Friday
before, which is at Galatoire's where
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:the king and queen are toasted and fed
lamb chops and some very special water.
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:But that is a small private media event.
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:We also unveil our poster at that time.
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:And the public coming out will
be the night of the ball, which
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:is that night, always the Friday
night before the Sunday parade.
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:Dixie: Rescue groups also participate
in the parade , they build floats
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:and those kind of things as well.
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:robin: In lots of ways, we have the rescue
groups participate any rescue group that
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:has given us volunteers the year before
will receive a donation at the ball.
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:We do provide two free tickets
for each rescue that will be
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:donating to so that they get to
attend and really be celebrated.
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:It's one of the times they
will be celebrated in public.
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:Also, in the parade, we allow for
different rescue groups to March.
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:They can bring up to 10 dogs and they
in addition to providing us volunteers
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:will also have that opportunity to
bring adoptable dogs and many of
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:the rescues have really used it.
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:As a marketing tool and they'll make
little business cards and hand them
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:out and lots of dogs will get adopted
just from being seen at Barkas.
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:So we're happy to support
that aspect as well.
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:Dixie: Can you list some of
the rescues that are involved?
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:robin: Sure.
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:I do want to say it's not just dogs.
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:We also support cat groups.
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:We support.
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:a bird rescue, birds of prey
and other types of birds.
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:We support not just shelters locally, but
as I said in the gulf region, there have
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:been times when we've supported shelters
out of north Louisiana, Mississippi.
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:It just depends.
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:I mean, sometimes these small
shelters might come into the
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:a big case where they're not
going to have enough resources.
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:And it will come to our attention and
we'll make donations to those groups.
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:We also do support a bunny group as well.
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:And so I'm gonna, I'll
go in alphabetical order.
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:That's how I have them.
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:Animal Rescue New Orleans, Humane
Society of Louisiana, Jefferson SPCA,
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:Louisiana SPCA, Gulf Coast Doberman
Rescue, Zeus' Rescue, Gulf South Golden
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:Retriever Rescue, Country Day, Take
Paws, Big Easy Animal Rescue, The Inner
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:Pop, Trampled Rose Rescue, Kismet Pet
Adoptions Magic Happens Bunny Rescue, Spay
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:Mart Kitten Program, and Wings of Hope.
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:That's just some, that's a partial list.
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:Dixie: If a rescue reached out
to you, would new rescues be
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:able to participate as well?
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:robin: Yes, they can participate.
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:This is the year they would furnish
us with volunteers and then they
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:will be invited to next year's ball
and receive a donation at that time.
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:Dixie: Okay, now the rescues that do
bring the dogs in the parade, do they
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:have good success with adoptions?
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:robin: Yes there was a time when I was
heavily involved with the Jefferson
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:Parish Animal Shelter, and I will tell
you, we've done so many adoptions the
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:week after because they met the dog at
that event, and they just fell in love
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:and so they followed up the week after,
and yes, it's a great adoption event.
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:Dixie: So now you went
through the history of Barkus.
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:How is it that you became
involved in Barkus?
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:robin: I my first official involvement
the first couple of years was through
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:my mentor and one of the animal, a
long time animal activist, Charlotte
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:Bass Lily And I used to go and
help her stuff envelopes and stuff.
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:It was when we did things a whole
different way than we do today.
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:But after a couple of years, she said, I
think you really need to be on the board.
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:So she nominated me to be on the board
and then post Katrina is really when.
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:I became most active because
we lost several board members.
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:So, you know, they lost everything.
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:They were not in New Orleans.
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:We had a parade to put on.
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:So that's when I jumped
into a many different roles.
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:And currently, although I'm the official
volunteer coordinator On day of I'm also
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:the captain of the parade separate from
Tom Woods and Jojo McWood who although
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:the first Jojo is long gone there is a
Jojo McWood every year leading the parade.
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:I am the on the ground captain putting
the elements together and ensuring
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:that everything is in its proper
place and the lineup is followed
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:and the parade gets out of the park.
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:Dixie: You know, you said that for
the attendance to have Barkus that
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:it'll be like eight people deep.
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:Usually, do you know about how many
people that is that would attend,
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:robin: you know, with the police have
not given us any numbers, but I can tell
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:you it's many thousands that attend the
parade and they are there for Barkus
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:It's the highlight of their year.
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:There are certain residents
that have huge parties.
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:There are certain water stations.
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:It's the bars.
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:I mean, it's really an event that has to
be seen to an experience to be believed.
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:Dixie: I totally agree If you're
going to come to New Orleans for
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:Mardi Gras, you have to go to Barkus
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:robin: We are the largest dog
parade, I would say, in the universe.
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:And although there may be
pretenders, we are the original.
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:And I believe because of our location
and our history and the different
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:elements like Margaret, or the
school bands, the brass bands.
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:I just really, I'm so proud
every year of the product that
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:we're putting out on this parade.
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:And one thing I also.
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:We've seen this parade
have Such an impact.
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:A lot of times our kings and queens
come in and the families, for
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:whatever reason, may have just really
built this bond with their dog.
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:And sometimes the king's
family are very wealthy people.
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:And for them, They start out, they can be
a bit stiff, little stiff upper lip, but
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:by the time they get to parade day, after
living through the preceding week and all
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:of the events and the ball, and then these
people screaming for their dog, it just
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:can really completely change their life.
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:And we have seen it and we have some
very loyal people to us We like to say
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:that once you participate in Barkus, it's
hard to get away just because it's such
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:a special event And it has really meant a
lot to past royalty and past participants
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:People prepare all year long for their
costumes their homemade floats, etc And
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:of course this year is a huge year for
us we're super excited about our king.
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:Our queen has not been named yet.
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:She will be named shortly before the
parade, the week leading up to the parade.
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:But our king, much like Rex, our king
has been announced and it's Master P.
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:D.
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:Benson, the dog of Gale and Tom Benson.
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:So we're super excited to have that
type of Involvement with someone who
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:is so many philanthropic and now she,
to see how she is really supporting us
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:and supporting the animals is really
a special thing for our city, I think.
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:Phil: Well, I can tell you, having
been to many Barkus parades, yes,
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:I can agree with you that people
will come outta their shells, right?
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:So you see 'em come out in their costumes
and it is, it's just something you have
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:to see, you know, you have to be there.
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:You have to see it.
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:But not just people, so I noticed like
some of the dogs that are for adoption
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:that are walking the route, you know, you
get to see the animals personality, right?
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:So rather than being, in a kennel
somewhere for adoption, and you see
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:them on the parade route, you know,
that's when you get to really see.
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:How the animal reacts from other animals
and I think you can really see what animal
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:you want, you know That's just my opinion.
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:robin: I agree phil that's a really
great point and one of the things I
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:like to say is like When a dog has been
through something like that a parade
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:like that and has had that experience
It's such a great experience for those
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:shelter animals that it's impacting them.
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:And like you said, you really do
get to see a different side of them.
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:It's a very happy event.
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:They're not behind, you know,
in a cage and they're really
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:able to be a dog for that day.
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:So that's really special.
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:Dixie: Yeah, and the dogs
definitely get excited, too.
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:robin: They do and you know, it's really
amazing to me that we can have that
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:literally Thousands of dogs when you
include all the dogs that are lining
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:the streets to watch the parade as
well, and it's very rare that we have
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:any issues between any dogs very rare.
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:I think they everyone gets
swept up in this amazing day of
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:food Fun and love and support.
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:It's really something very special.
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:Dixie: Now, do you ever have any kind
of issues with dogs getting lost?
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:robin: There have been a couple of
times where some dogs were running
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:around and the great thing is that
we always have shelter people there
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:and they know exactly what to do.
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:It's nothing but animal people
and we're always able to reunite.
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:A couple of times it had to be on the
Monday instead of that day but yeah
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:we've had a few get lost, not many.
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:You'd be surprised considering the
number of dogs that are out there.
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:Dixie: Now, do you still have a
need for volunteers for this year?
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:Always.
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:robin: Always.
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:Because we are all volunteer
run group, we are, we just
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:opened up the volunteer roles.
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:So we sign up our volunteers.
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:This is about the time we start
3 to 4 weeks before the parade.
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:And we actually allow volunteers
to sign up day of we prefer.
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:That they sign up through the website
early, but we do allow them to sign up as
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:late as day of our krewe marshal position,
which, again, is the most 1 in demand.
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:We have now moved up the time we
used to have it from 1 to 5, but this
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:year we're asking them to get there
just a little bit earlier at:
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:Dixie: Okay, and is the only
volunteer position is that the krewe
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:marshal, or could you use anybody
working in Armstrong park as well?
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:robin: Well, we used to have a
greater need in Armstrong Park, but
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:what we found is we have the same
people that return year after year.
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:So we do ask that people sign up for
the Krewe Marshall and if they want to
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:note somewhere in their form that the.
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:A earlier time would suit them.
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:I'll try to set that up with something,
but many of those positions are filled
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:by the same people, year after year.
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:And because we're dealing with merchandise
and registration packets, et cetera, it
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:does help to have those volunteers who
have a level of familiarity with it.
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:Dixie: Okay, and is there anything
else you would like to share
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:about Barkus the rescue efforts or
anything else related to the event?
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:robin: Well, yes, I would like to
talk about something we're going
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:to do that we've never done before.
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:We haven't even released any media
on it, but that'll come next week.
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:On Saturday, February 15th, at the
Dat Dog location on Ferrett Street,
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:we are going to do a public event.
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:Meet the Royals.
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:We will have the Barcus 2024
King and Queen and a few
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:of our Dukes and Duchesses.
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:We're going to have a DJ with some
music, a performance by the Weather
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:Girls, and it's a fundraiser,
all food and drink that's sold.
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:Between 1 p.
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:m.
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:and 4 p.
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:m.
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:and actually I think that
dog's doing it the whole day.
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:They're going to make a nice donation
to Barkus and it's an opportunity
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:for people to come and meet our kings
and queens and dukes and duchesses
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:and get a closer look and a few
sniffs and pets maybe a kiss or two.
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:Dixie: That's great.
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:robin: We are asking.
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:Yes, and we are asking that people
not bring their dogs unless it's a
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:service animal, just because this is
a restaurant and there will be food
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:and drink being consumed and served.
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:Dixie: Can you give us the website again?
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:robin: Yes.
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:Well, why don't I go over all the details.
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:The parade is Sunday, February 23rd.
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:Party at Armstrong Park starts at.
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:10 30 a.
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:m.
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:There are many ways you can participate.
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:You don't have to walk the parade if
your dog is older You can just sit up
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:in our vip tent If you purchase that
you can go to our reviewing stand
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:And you're welcome to just come enjoy
the music and the sites that we will
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:have in the park The website is www.
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:kreweofbarkus org We do
spell Krewe New Orleans baby.
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:It's www.kreweofbarkus.org.
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:Okay,
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:Dixie: thank you.
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:And I'm gonna include your volunteer
link too in the description.
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:Okay, so that way, in case anybody
wants to volunteer the link will be
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:there so they can go ahead and sign up.
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:robin: Okay.
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:Awesome.
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:Sounds great.
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:Phil: And I want to add, I just
looked at the website and I'm looking
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:at a photo of the Barkus poster.
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:So, I like to collect things, right?
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:So, anyone that wants to.
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:Buy one of these posters.
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:I would definitely jump on the website.
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:Take a look at it because it's
a good looking poster this
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:year So I really like it well,
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:robin: i'm glad you brought that up
philip our posters are one of a kind
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:done by Matt Renard through the renard
gallery He is also the vice president of
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:our group and has been a huge supporter
from almost from day one Also this
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:year we don't have our merchandise
up yet but It will be coming up soon.
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:We're offering a lot of
different merchandise that
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:we haven't offered before.
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:Instead of just our parade
day t shirt, we're going to be
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:doing a Barkas Sunday t shirt.
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:We're going to be selling flags.
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:We are working on cups and
special Barkas logo beads that
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:are going to be really cute.
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:A whole different type of bead than
we've done before and we're super
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:excited about the new additions.
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:Dixie: Well, we're going to be there.
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:We love walking the
parade as Krewe marshals.
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:robin: Okay, great.
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:Sign up the girl.
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:I'm gonna go sign up.
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:We'll be looking for those
Spaymart kitten foster volunteers.
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:We need them.
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:Dixie: Okay, yeah, and then we actually
started a rescue too, so we have a rescue.
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:We're building a sanctuary.
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:Yeah.
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:So we're the unwanted feline organization.
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:So, but we still work
with Spaymart as well.
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:So,
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:robin: okay.
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:Well, that's okay.
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:Put your name in girl.
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:Dixie: We're looking forward Barkus.
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:Like it is the best Mardi Gras parade.
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:Definitely the best.
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:robin: Okay.
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:I love it.
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:Thank you so much.
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:Really, this was wonderful to catch up
with you guys, and I'm looking forward
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:to seeing you in just a couple of weeks.
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:Dixie: Yep.
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:Looking forward to seeing you too.
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:robin: Okay.
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:We'll see you then.
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:Thank you all so much.
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:All
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:Dixie: right.
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:Goodbye.
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:robin: All right.
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:Bye bye.
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:Dixie: And that's all the time
we have for today's episode.
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:If you are in animal rescue, or if
you know someone that has a story that
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:should be told, please contact us.
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:We would love to have
you or them on the show
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:.
Thanks for listening, and please join us next week as we continue to
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:explore the world of animal rescue.
