No dogs, all sequins
PERRYVILLE, Ark. — Thirty-four days is not soon and it is not never. It is the exact distance at which a town starts sweeping a municipal goat park as if eight thousand people might notice the corners.
Arkansas Goat Festival is Saturday, October 3, ten to four, Perryville City Park. Free gate. Two stages. Parade, costume contest, lingerie show, soap-making demo, food trucks, a vendor row that is already telling late applicants they may wait. Dogs stay home. That last rule is not a vibe. It is the difference between a goat park and a suggestion.
We previewed Perryville last packet. This packet is the packing list.
- Water for the goat you intend to walk, and water for the human who will pretend they do not need it.
- A costume that can survive grass and opinion.
- No dog, not even the one who “does great with goats” in your living room.
- Cash for the booth that remembered pricing signage.
- A plan for leaving before the last song if your animal has had enough of sequins.
Sarah French said years ago that if you have a motorcycle you go to Sturgis, and if you have a goat you go to Perryville. The Bleat Sheet adds: if you have a dog, you go to a different Saturday.
Inkhorn, who has never been comfortable with a lingerie show even when the models are goats, will cover the parade and hide near Cooperative Extension during the rest. Button has already designed three costumes and been vetoed on all three. Nanny Belle intends to clock whether the municipal goat park still feels like the only one of its kind in the country once the inflatables go up.
Charlotte, who is a border collie and therefore professionally offended by a no-dog rule, will watch from the caboose. Dolly promised her a stick and a later wormhole that does not require a wristband.
October 3. Perryville. Sequins yes. Dogs no. Put it on the same nail as September 4.