Well-heeled pooches in festival finale

Pet Art Wear Parade Gallery

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Georgia Holland, 8 and Max Patterson, 7 both of Nelson dressed as Star Wars characters Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker with Poppy the Griffin dressed as an Ewok at the Pet Art Wear event.

MARTIN DE RUYTER/Nelson Mail

SUPER TRIO: Zoe Fyfe, 8, and Theo Fyfe, 5, and their dog Dougal, seven months, won the dog-owner lookalike section at the Pet Art Wear event at the Family Finale event at Founders Park, the last event of the Nelson Arts Festival.

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One superdog, three hula-hounds and a rabbit riding in a pumpkin carriage were at the centre of a catwalk show with a difference at Nelson's Founders Heritage Park yesterday.

The lineup of confident pooches were among 17 pets strutting their stuff on stage during the Pet Art Wear parade, held as part of the Family Finale. The action-packed day was attended by about 3000 people and celebrated the end of the 12-day Nelson Arts Festival, which organisers say was a record-breaker.

The pet show had three categories – the most humorous pet, the best owner/animal lookalike and the best-dressed pet. The winner of the lookalike section went to Nelson siblings Zoe and Theo Fyfe who, along with their seven-month-old airedale terrier Dougal, were known on the day as Dougal Superdog and his Supersiblings.

Zoe said they did a "pose" when they stepped onto the catwalk and although Dougal was a bit reluctant to walk on to the ramp, he put on a great show in the end.

"He can run faster than a speeding train," Zoe said.

The trio won a $100 voucher from Halifax Veterinary Centre.

Other entrants included the hula-hounds made up of Pepe, Poppy and Abby. The excited trio wore flower lei, bright sarongs and grass skirts.

During their strut, the show's compere, Hans Andersen, relayed a story about the time Pepe, a huntaway labrador cross, got a hard rubber ball stuck down his throat. The pooch's owner, Pat Pepperell, said he was fine after the incident and well behaved during the show.

"He hasn't objected. He let me put the outfit on quite happily."

One of the three judges of the competition, Raylene Stringer, a vet nurse from Halifax Veterinary Centre, said the event went well and all the entrants were on their best behaviour.

The fun day also featured food stalls, rides, bouncy castles and a sing-along with Nelson's World Ukulele Orchestra. It was the band's first public performance and it played to a large crowd, which sang along enthusiastically. The orchestra's performance was followed by the upbeat Brazilian band Tambolele.

Nelson City Council festival producer Sophie Kelly said the arts festival, a city council-produced annual event, had been a record-breaker this year with 40 sellout shows.

"We have sold a record of 80 per cent of all tickets, which is very very high by the standards of any arts festival," she said.

Festival creative director Annabel Norman put the success down to programming and profile.

"We certainly got the programme right with a variety of theatre, dance and music that appealed to a wide audience," she said.

• Click the gallery on the left for more pictures from Saturday's Pet Art Wear parade.

- © Fairfax NZ News