CHILLICOTHE – Antique, heavily modified, and brightly painted vehicles lined up in Chillicothe’s Yoctangee Park Saturday to raise money for the Ross County Humane Society.
The show was a compromise from the usual car show put on by the Humane Society every year — usually, the event includes awards and live music.
“With the COVID, the city has some regulations and we’re trying to stick to that as best we could,” said Johnny Johnson, Board President of the Ross County Humane Society. “We couldn’t have an actual car show because of social distancing, so we just fished around we could find something they would allow and this is what it was.”
This year, attendees were simply encouraged to drive around the park or park somewhere to display their cars. People in attendance were free to walk around the park, and humane society employees walked around with buckets for donations.
In 2019, the Humane Society’s third annual bark in the park car show raised just shy of $20,000 for the organization, said Johnson. “The years before that it was 10, and five before that, so it’s pretty much doubled every year.”
This year, the organization only raised a little over $5,000, said Amber Aspel, an employee of the Humane Society.
But as Johnson noted, at least they also had minimal expenses. Last year, the Humane Society spent $7,500 on trophies, as they were lasercut and well detailed.
This year, the Humane Society sold t-shirts, with “Ross County Humane Society” on the front and “2020 Bark in the Park Cruise in” on the back, and gave out bumper plaques to any who donated.
The show attracts people from all over, said Johnson. Last year, people came down from as far away as Canada.
The Humane Society has around 45 dogs of all shapes and sizes at their facility on Lick Run Road which are looking for a forever home. The Society also coordinates with fosters to raise cats, rabbits, chickens and other animals.
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