A ferocious lion, three superheroes, a cowboy, pretty pink princesses, a hula dancer and more performed at the Coppell Arts Center on Saturday.

All of the competitors had three things in common: they were energetic, dressed their best, and most relevant of all, dogs.

Under a cloudless sky, Coppell residents gathered their furry loved ones in The Grove at the local arts center on Saturday for the dog-friendliest event of the year: the Dog Days Fashion Show and Adoption Event sponsored by Camp Bow Wow.

“It’s a fundraiser plus it’s a way to introduce people that maybe don’t know about the arts center to come here,” Coppell Arts Center Foundation President Greg Goyne said. “The Coppell Farmers Market draws a lot of people over to Old Town, so we wanted to take advantage of that.”

The stage, which usually hosts music and dance performances, was set up as a runway for owners to walk their costumed pets on as Coppell Arts Center Foundation board member Dave Greenberg and comedian Colton Wilburn emceed the event.

“When the arts center opened in the middle of COVID and the foundation was founded to support the arts center, we were trying to come up with ways to raise awareness for the arts center and think about activities that really could be COVID-friendly and we could have outside,” Greenberg said. “We came up with the idea of a dog fashion show, because we could do it outside right in front of the arts center and get people coming to the event. So we tried it in the summer, and it was a huge hit.”

On the other side of the lawn, several local pet vendors and adoption centers set up shop. Epic Animal Rescue allowed guests to play with puppies up for adoption in exchange for $1 donations, and a table in the center of the lawn was laden with heaps of breakfast pastries as refreshments.

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