Show Us Your Paws Parade Adds Some "Bark" to the Boardwalk

The "Golden Bee-trievers were a winning entry in the Show Us Your Paws Parade. Exactly once a year, dogs are welcome on the Ocean City Boardwalk. Not only is that fact alone special, but the presence of the canines helped to benefit an outstanding cause, the Humane Society of Ocean City. The parade Grand Marshall Jay Jay, age 13 the fund-raising Yorkie The former “Barks on the Boards” parade was re-launched on Saturday as “Show Us Your Paws,” a play on the famous “show us your shoes” mantra of Atlantic City’s Miss America Parade and Ocean City’s own Miss New Jersey Pageant parade. Two contestants in the super hero dog/owner division of the parade. The Mummers entertained and provided a great musical backdrop for the event. More than 100 four-legged friends made the trip along with Martin Z. Mollusk, a Mummers string band and several pooch-filled “floats” or decorated wagons. Humans and dogs shared the spotlight Saturday during the Show us Your Paws Parade The mutts and purebreds of all sizes mingled freely with their two-legged fans and competed in such categories as “Super Hero dog/owner lookalike, best surfer dog, best bathing beauty and best shoobie dog. Judging by the happy barks and smiles of the spectators, the event certainly lived up to its advance billing. A variety of costumed canines strutted on the OC boards Saturday.