[Bogie Shooter]

The add for the Rotary Chili Cook-off & Home & Garden Show included "Do your pets a favor-let them stay home for a nap!"
I was not able to attend the cook-off today and was wondering were there dogs in attendance?

[ceejay]

We were there for a few hours this afternoon and did not see one dog!

[renielarson]

The only dogs I saw were in a steam pot ready for a bun...

[buggyone]

I was there for about 2.5 hours and only saw one dog - and it was being carried by the owner. Very crowded with people and would be dangerous for a dog to be walking around.

[Bill-n-Brillo]

All the dogs were probably over at Fumar's place...............

Bill

[Uptown Girl]

The 'no dogs' suggestion was a very good one.
The place was packed and would have been a hazard to have pups on leashes.

We saw one very large and beautiful Doberman in one of the vendor tents. He was not on a leash and I'm sure the vendor thought the dog would stay docile behind the display.
He didn't.... and scared the bejeezus out of some poor guy he didn't like the vibes of, just as we were walking by. No unhappy ending, but probably not the best way to attract new customers.

[bkcunningham1]

We were there for about three hours and didn't notice any doggies. It was really fun and nice. Very, very crowded. I will not wear open-toed shoes next time though.

Did anyone else notice the stench coming from the polo fields. I don't mean horse poo either. It was sickening. A friend told us he was playing softball the day before the chili-cookoff and they were fertilizing the fields. The smell was like a dead animal. He said they couldn't stomach the smell and thought it was really odd to be fertilizing the day before the event. Ugghh.

[linandvin]

Between the stench and the traffic, I will cross this one off our list.

[bkcunningham1]

Did you smell it, linandvin? We you there too? The traffic is to be expected. The smell was inexcusable to me. At least you couldn't smell it in the immediate area of the food and home/garden booths.

[linandvin]

We definitely smelled it. We had to park in the "lower forty" and by the time we walked through the "landmines" I certainly lost my appetite. Traffic was not moving the way it should have been. People were really losing it. Perhaps next time they might have more than one access point. When we realized how long we would have to wait, it was too late. We were caught in the loop and could not escape.

[Zoomie1955]

We got there after 2pm and I saw two dogs. But at that time it was not crowded. There was still plenty of chili!!!!

[NJblue]

This was the worst managed event I have ever attended. The way the access road and parking were set up made it impossible for those of us in the back "corral" to get out. When I first went back to my car there were about 10-15 cars ahead of me trying to work their way to the exit road. Unfortunately, there were still people trying to come in and they blocked our access to the exit road which was also the entrance road. The person assigned to keep traffic moving did nothing to create an alternate flow to allow everyone a chance to get on to the road - so, there we sat not moving an inch. After about 30 minutes I gave up my spot in line (by now there were probably 30 cars trying to get out), parked my car and tried to find someone to help.

I walked all the way back up to Buena Vista talking to each yellow-vested person to find out who was in charge. They all pointed at someone else. I finally found someone with a yellow hat on who was supposed to be a "group leader". He was up near the exit where they had things under control (meaning that those who parked there were getting out at our expense.) At first he blew me off by pointing at the traffic that was being allowed to merge onto the road around him and said things were going fairly well. When I impressed upon him that back up the line that no one was getting out at all, he at first wouldn't believe me, but I seemed to finally make an impession on him, such that he got into his golf cart as if to go check the situation out.

Thinking that the situation would be fixed I made my way back to the car. When I got there, it was now an hour later and still no one from the parking corral had moved. The cars that were behind me when I got out of line were still in the exact same place. I waited about 5 or 10 minutes for "yellow cap" to show up and get things moving. He never did. I then went out and found another supervisor (one who I had also spoken to before) and insisted that he come to our "corral" and see for himself that nothing was moving. By this time nearly everyone in that corral was in their cars trying to get out and no one was. Finally the second supervisor did show up and we eventually started to move. My net time trying to escape the polo grounds was an hour an a half.

I have been to football games with over 100,000 people there and Manhattan when all the Broadway shows were letting out and I have never had such a hard time getting home. The polo grounds seem like a perfect venue for large events like this because of their size, but unless they do something to provide better access and egress, I will never go near an event held there again.

[ddan32162]

We arrived around noon and left around 2-2:30 and saw one small dog. The lady was feeding it chili. I said to my husband, I wonder if she bought it a wrist band? Why did they let her in? Because it was only a "suggestion"? And we also did smell the fields on our walk to the event. Yuk - really farm-y smelling, but once in the chili serving area we didn't smell it much. I agree about organizing the parking situation next time. We took our golf cart, so it was much easier, but for those who need to drive a car, it must have been horrific.

[rubicon]

Chili Cook Off no dogs but plenty of smell and plenty of cars....No dogs..chili Hmmmmmmmmmmm

[Bonny]

Our Parrot Heads had a booth. Never saw any dogs & we were there all day. Saw "LOTS" of dirt !! Talk about being a filthy mess. Clothes went off at home in the garage !!