The (hot) dog days of summer are just around the corner, and Calgary\u2019s inaugural hotdog festival \u2014 Dog Days \u2014 is set to run from Saturday until June 6.<\/p>\n
Throughout the two-week festival, Calgarians can visit 54 restaurants and vendors across the city to try their Dog Days submission.<\/p>\n
Press and Post, a marketing and public relations agency, is organizing the festival.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone has either selected a hotdog off their menu or created a custom hotdog for the festival,\u201d said Ayla Gilmer, communications manager for Press and Post.<\/p>\n
In addition to eating a hearty hotdog, festival-goers will also be supporting a good paws \u2014 uh, cause \u2014 as $1 from each Dog Days creation sold will be donated to the Pet Access League Society<\/a> (PALS), a Calgary-based non-profit.<\/p>\n \u201cAll of our team members have pets \u2014 dogs, cats and actually a rabbit as well,\u201d Gilmer said. \u201cWe all love animals and know first-hand the benefits of spending time with them. Supporting PALS and pet therapy was an easy cause to get behind.\u201d<\/p>\n PALS volunteers take dogs to visit with people experiencing anxious or high-stress situations, including hospital stays or school exams.<\/p>\n According to the charity\u2019s website, PALS provides pet visitation therapy at more than 50 facilities across Calgary, including medical facilities and seniors\u2019 homes.<\/p>\n The charity\u2019s four-legged friends are also taken to Calgary Public Library branches for a program that helps children learning to read.<\/p>\n Gilmer said the idea of hosting a festival centred on hotdogs emerged last Christmas. She said she was aware of other food-specific festivals in Calgary \u2014 devoted to hot chocolate<\/a>, ice cream, pizza, and mac and cheese \u2014 and was surprised no one had thought of doing the same for hotdogs.<\/p>\n \u201cHotdogs deserved some love, we thought,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just an exciting way for people to get out and check out some restaurants they\u2019ve maybe never visited before and try some fun hotdogs.\u201d<\/p>\n Participating venues are spread throughout the city and surrounding communities, and include restaurants, food trucks and vendors at food courts. A full list can be found at dogdaysyyc.com<\/a><\/p>\n The festival will begin Saturday with a kickoff party at Cold Garden Beverage Co. Calgarians are invited to the Inglewood brewery\u2019s patio from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. for hotdogs from The Dogfather food truck, drinks and visits with the PALS pups.<\/p>\n One dollar from each of The Dogfather\u2019s Cheesy Pawrito Dog will support PALS.<\/p>\n The location was chosen due to Cold Garden\u2019s dog-friendly policy, according to Gilmer, who added Cold Garden will also donate $1 from each pint sold of its Pool Party Blonde ale.<\/p>\n \u201cWe wanted to have a location that was super dog-friendly, so we could have all the PALS dogs there and so people could bring their dogs as well,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n