.png)
Corgi Beach Day® is almost here again on April 7th from 12-4 pm! What does that mean? It means Huntington Beach will be taken over by 1000+ corgis, honorary corgis (all other dogs and all are welcome) and their owners for a sun-filled day of fun activities! There will be talent contests, costume contests, meet and greets with famous corgis, photo ops, and great vendors including your very own Metro Paws®.
Photo Credit: Steamer Lee Dog Photography
We went ahead and asked the Owners of Corgi Beach Day, Kelly & Dan McLemore and Host of CBD, Mr. Pickles (above), some questions to dive into the minds behind of the most EPIC Corgi event! 1. How long has Corgi Beach Day been around, and what was the inspiration behind it? Corgi Beach Day began in Fall 2012...our own Corgi had gone through some surgeries for a torn ACL and was finally recovered. We simply wanted to organize a small meetup at the beach to meet some other corgi owners that we knew from Facebook and to have a nice relaxing day on the beach. We loaded up the car with a couple chairs, our corgi and a bunch of homemade peanut butter sandwiches and cookies! 15 dogs and their owners showed up that day and we had a great time, did it again 3 months later and 75 dogs showed up...then 200, 400, 600 and up from there. Every 3 months we multiplied like crazy. In 2016 we reached over 1000 corgis in attendance and it has just kept growing from there. We used to keep a "sign in" sheet that people would literally stand in line for hours to make sure "their corgi was counted"! After we reached 1000 corgs we stopped counting! :) 2. Besides Being the Largest in the World, Literally, what makes Corgi Beach Day different from the rest? Being the biggest and best requires us to always be thinking of new and fresh ideas to keep everybody engaged and coming back for more! Dan and I are always brainstorming new ideas to make each Corgi Beach Day unique and different from the previous one. Our aim to pick the best vendors, that will appeal to our attendees and new events that will keep everyone smiling and laughing around the Main Arena. 3. What fun and unique things do you have going on after next week’s CBD? (we will link if you add them here as well) We have some really fun events in the works, besides our Corgi Beach Day events that take place Spring, Summer and Fall, we are launching a series of new events this year: We are SUPER excited to announce that our 1st Annual SoCal Corgi Nationals will take place at Santa Anita Racetrack on May 27th! A huge festival for all with vendors, food trucks, food & drink and of course.... Corgi Races! We're also planning to bring back our Corgi Wine & Paint nights again and MORE TOP SECRET surprises to be announced soon! 4. What advice do you have for others trying to do something like Corgi Beach Day, to make a difference? My advice would be to get ready for the ride....we never planned that Corgi Beach Day would take off like it did! It's been a labor of love, every minute of it but we wouldn't change a thing. The biggest pleasure that we get is seeing just how much joy it brings to everyone. We also partnered up with Queen's Best Stumpy Dog Rescue in 2014, after getting to know them via Corgi Beach Day events. We made them our rescue of choice, with part of our proceeds from Corgi Beach Day going to help them. They've grown so much in the past few years and we're so proud to be linked together and to help spread the word about their organization. They are the ones really doing the hard work! To learn more about QBSDR: www.qbsdr.org 5. Why do you like Metro Paws® & their products? We love Metro Paws and are so glad that we've gotten to partner together! Not only are Megan and Jon outstanding people but it shines though in their business. The bags are superb quality, thick & durable (because who wants a flimsy bag to pick up with?!) and we love all the fun prints! 6. What’s your funniest dog story? (maybe something that happened during one of the events) Oh so many to choose from! The one that comes to mind (I wonder why?) is this one corgi who was walking up and down the beach, with a poo bag in his mouth. He was carrying HIS. OWN. POO. BAG. I can still see the image in my mind...people were laughing like crazy. His owner said he does it all the time when they go on walks. I wish I would have gotten a photo! You'll never know what you'll see at Corgi Beach Day but I can guarantee your face WILL be sore at the end of the day from the constant smiling and laughing. It's truly the best therapy! We Agree! Thank you so much Kelly and Dan for sharing your wonderful story with us, and for making Corgi Beach Day what it is today! Make sure you attend Corgi Beach Day Furiends if you are in the So Cal area, because you don't want to miss this. Lastly, we will also have our Annual co-branded MP totes we create with CBD so you don't want to miss those either. The first 300 are FREE with purchase at the CBD Booth! When they're all out, come on over to our Booth to purchase them, and proceeds will to go to NO-KILL rescues and shelters. See you there!!!