Earth Day festival to feature dog jumping competition, kids’ activities, recycling, exhibitors

April 21, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Dock Dogs at Earth Day Oak Ridge

Alex, a Weimaraner skilled at long distance jumping and speed retrieval, catches a football during a DockDogs competition in Oak Ridge during the 2012 Earth Day Festival.

The Sixth Annual Earth Day Festival in Oak Ridge this weekend will feature a jumping competition for dogs, a kids’ race and bicycle rodeo, and shoe collection and recycling drives.

It will also feature more than 60 exhibitors and live music. It’s scheduled from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Oak Ridge Civic Center.

The popular dog jumping competition debuted in Oak Ridge last year. It’s the Smoky Mountain Dock Dogs “Spare the Big Air Challenge,” and it features a 26,000-gallon swimming pool and four events: Big Air, Extreme Vertical, Speed Retrieve, and Iron Dog. It starts at 4 p.m. Friday at A.K. Bissell Park and ends at 5 p.m. Sunday. [Read more...]

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Dogs get ‘big air’ at Earth Day festival

April 30, 2012 By Leave a Comment
DockDogs Football

Alex, a Weimaraner skilled at long distance jumping and speed retrieval, catches a football thrown by his owner, Trent Steele, during a DockDogs competition in Oak Ridge on Saturday.

More than 100 dogs from across the country competed in long-distance and vertical jump challenges in Oak Ridge this weekend in a first-time event that enthralled hundreds of people who encouraged the canines with loud cheers.

The three-day DockDogs competition, which also included a speed retrieval event, was part of the annual Earth Day festival at A.K. Bissell Park.

Earth Day Petting Zoo

Children enjoy the animal petting zoo at Earth Day in Oak Ridge on Saturday.

Besides that competition, the festival also included a bike rodeo, petting zoo, musical entertainment, vendors, and recycling stations, including for shoes and computers. There was also a Green Mile Children’s Run at the Oak Ridge High School track.

One dog that competed this weekend, Wrigley, a Weimaraner from Chicago, has a 6-foot, 8-inch vertical leap, said Trent Steele, president of Smoky Mountain DockDogs in Knoxville, which organized the contest. By Saturday afternoon, Wrigley had jumped 27 feet and one inch in a “Big Air” long-distance competition.

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