I’m driving up and down a main street in Stouffville, Ontario looking for the first annual Scruffy Mutt Masquerade event. I can’t find it. That’s right, a costume party for dogs in the town’s one and only leash free park.

There’s no address for the park, just a concept of where it is.

Then I do what I’ve done before looking for a place in a strange city to let my crazy terrier Victor run free after a long drive: I pull up beside someone walking a dog. Actually, the only person I can find walking a dog. I guess everyone is at the dog park.

“Do you know where the leash-free dog park is?” I ask him.

“Yes,” he said, and gave me directions. Very accurate directions. We’re not far.

I found the Stouffville leash-free park at the end of a dead-end street behind the Walmart plaza, just where he said it would be – only today the road to the dog park is lined with cars. Many cars.

The first annual Scruffy Mutts Masquerade event sponsored by the local dog grooming service of the same name is clearly successful. Even the food truck selling fries and gravy (not poutine) has a steady line of customers. Many white tents of business sponsors, including North Paw food and Global Pet Foods, line the waking path handing out samples and company info.

Victor and I leave with a bag of stuff. But not before we check out the chip-lined leash-free park (set up as an agility course today), stroll by the pond (Victor wades in) and visit a pet communicator…. again.

This isn’t the first time I’ve asked a pet communicator to ‘read’ Victor, but it is the first time I’ve written about it.

… Or will be writing about it. That’s the topic for the next post: End of Summer Dog Adventure Part III: Meeting Terri Beauchamp, CRA, animal communicator.

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First, here are the highlights of the doggie dress-up fashion show, the culmination of the dog festival. If your pup didn’t come in costume you could borrow some party photo booth accessories there.

Winners were supposed to be selected by crowd ‘cheers,’ but each contestant meet with the same  ‘awes’ as one fur baby after another paraded down the short ‘red carpet’ set up along the pond-adjacent path.

We didn’t enter. Victor tired easily today especially after spilling his guts to the communicator.

What did he say? That’s up next. Stay tuned. 

TRAVEL GUIDE: Stouffville, Ontario is about a 40-minute drive north of Toronto along either the Highway 404 or Highway 400. It’s primarily a rural area but 20 minutes further north along Highway 404 is Dog Tales Rescue and Horse Sanctuary, open to the public on Sundays. 

A short highway drive south of Stouffville, is Canada’s Wonderland, the country’s largest amusement ride theme park in Vaughn, Ontario. The 330-acre seasonal fun attraction is home to 16 roller coasters and the annual Halloween Haunt event in October. 

Nearby is Reptilia, located in a strip mall. The privately-owned zoo and education facility is home to 250 reptiles and amphibians offering an up-close look at these amazing creatures. 

Around the corner from Reptilia, is the Vaughn Mills Outlet Mall, one of the province’s largest outlet shopping malls and home to the LegoLand Discovery Centre, and the dog-friendly Bass Pro Shops for outdoor gear – that’s the only place dog friendly in this list (expect Dog Tales).