Ames residents and Iowa State students brought their furry friends out on Halloween night, dressed in their best costumes, for the first annual Reiman Gardens Howl-O-Ween Costume Walk.
The event took place from 4:30–7 p.m. Tuesday as Reiman Gardens staff invited owners and their dogs to parade throughout the gardens for a night of Halloween fun.
The Howl-O-Ween Costume Walk served as this year’s finale for Rovers at Reiman, an event for Ames residents and visitors to walk the grounds of Reiman Gardens with other pet owners.
Following its Spirits in the Gardens event earlier in October, Reiman Gardens was decked out with fall decorations and Halloween-themed decor for Tuesday’s event. Owners had the opportunity to photograph their pups next to Shep, Reiman Gardens’ own four-legged companion. Shep is a farm dog statue located within the gardens, created by Nina de Creeft Ward in 1999 as part of Iowa State University’s Art on Campus Collection.
In addition to a variety of photo opportunities, owners could enter their four-legged friends in a costume contest to be crowned as the first-ever Howl-O-Ween Costume Walk champion.
“I would love for the Howl-O-Ween event to become sort of a tradition for Iowans. We’ve had a lot of awesome support for our events but would love to get even more folks involved,” said Allison Anderson, membership coordinator at Reiman Gardens.
Kaitlyn Guadarrama, a sophomore in criminal justice, brought her husky Mushu, decked out in a fierce vampire costume, to the Howl-O-Ween event Tuesday. “It’s been really nice. I wish they would have more dog events like this,” Guadarrama said.
Emma Rients, a graduate student studying animal science, is a member of Iowa State’s ACE Project, an organization that provides opportunities for students to work with foster dogs with behaviors that are not suited to life in the shelter, according to Iowa State’s department of animal science website. Rients had attended some of the Rovers at Reiman events over the past summer and decided to visit the Howl-O-Ween event with her dog Annie.
Looking towards the future, Reiman Gardens employees said they hope to hold more events for Ames residents and their furry friends.
“These events are great for getting your dogs out to socialize,” Anderson said.
Rients said she would like to see other events throughout the year to bring her dog Annie to. “I think an event with lights all around would be a really fun idea,” Rients said.
Guadarrama said she would also like to see an event for the holiday season featuring light displays set up throughout the gardens for owners and their pets to observe.
“I think a Christmas event would be so cute,” Guadarrama said.
Lee Motzko | Nov 1, 2023 at 12:20 pm
What an interesting article, reading it one would wish he had a pet so he could be involved with these fun people. Look forward to that Christmas event.