Short stubby legs, loud barking and curious minds were celebrated for the first ever YEG Corgi Beach Day southwest of Edmonton.
The event took place in Devon’s Voyageur Park in the North Saskatchewan River valley, where corgi races, yoga and agility training took place.
“One hundred corgis in the same place: cuteness over load,” co-organizer Laurel Kirchner said.
“Corgis have this little quirk about them, personalities that just say: ‘I’m fun, let’s go have some fun.'”
Kirchner said the idea to plan a beach day in Alberta came after her sons wanted to take their dog, Cosbie Lou, to the California Corgi Beach Day, which can see more than 1,000 dogs.
The family thought the plane ride and all that travel would cause stress to their pet, so they decided to plan one at home.
READ MORE: Dogs and puppies seized in northeast Edmonton begin transfer to humane society
Planning started in March and the town of Devon gave them permission to host it.
Her son Deryk Kirchner helped get the ball rolling.
“I thought: let’s get all the corgis in Edmonton together and have a similar thing in Alberta, because Alberta has lots of fun corgis to offer,” Deryk said.
One of the highlights to the event was the corgi races. They tried their best, some jumping the barrier immediately and others chasing after other dogs’ tails.
“It’s not necessarily who’s the fastest corgi but the one with the best attention span and who could run from one owner at the start of the line to the other owner,” Deryk said.
READ MORE: Dachshunds race to be top dog in Regina
The hope is YEG Corgi Beach Day will be an annual event.
“Let’s put the town of Devon on the map as the co-site for Alberta corgi beach day,” Laurel said.
READ MORE: Dressing up not just for Halloween for some dogs; it’s a year-round job