Hundreds of people made their way to the Parkdale Community Association in southwest Calgary to celebrate Oktollerfest. The spin-off of the German tradition Oktoberfest gave dog owners a chance to have fun with their pooches and enjoy the beer and food being served.
At Oktollerfest, everyone thinks their dog is the greatest dog in the world.
Ryan Kemp CEO of the Screaming Retriever Brewing Company and organizer of Oktollerfest talked about the type of dog he owns.
“My own dog Kuma, he’s a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling retriever which is the world’s smallest retriever breed,” said Kemp.
“They are bred for duck hunting and they love to swim. They also scream when they get very excited so our brand is called Screaming Retriever based on the fact that they’re the world’s smallest retriever and they love to scream when they get excited.”
Oktoberfest is an annual German festival celebrating food and beer, and Kemp wanted to put on an event with dogs in the picture.
“Well the idea is a little bit complex, because I love Oktoberfest — it’s the worlds biggest beer festival, especially in Munich,” he said.
“The idea was to combine an event for dogs within the Oktoberfest concept, that’s why it’s called Oktollerfest removing the ‘b’ from that word and putting two ‘l”s.”
Several event visitors were eager to speak on what makes their dog extra special.
Brian Howlett talked about what the relationship between him, his wife and his dog.
“I mean this is our child,” said Howlett.
“We don’t have children ourselves so we just have a dog and she’s our whole world you know we want to treat her as best as we can and do as many fun things for as we can.”
Howlett also stated why he likes this event so much.
“We like this event because obviously it’s a dog friendly event,” he said. “Ryan, the person putting on this event, we met him a few times before, super awesome guy and anything we can do to support him and his company is why we come to this.”
Connor Bowles talks about his dog Freddie and what he loves about him.
“He’s a ball of energy,” said Bowels. “He’s always ready to run around and go swimming and play with balls and toys.
“He’s great he brings joy to my life, everything about him is great.”
Kristen Kalbfleisch is another visitor also speaks highly of her dog Seiko. “He is the perfect mix of spunk and spice and sweetness. I really love that he loves life, he’s super brave and he’s willing to just try anything that me and my partner ask him to do.”
While visiting with her friend’s dog, Singhi, Heather Widenan shared what the relationship between her and her own dog is like, and how their special bond is irreplaceable.
“She’s the sweetest,” said Widenan.
“It’s so nice to come home and have someone who wants to cuddle and just so happy to see you.”
