The Calgary Centre of the Alberta Ferret Society took great pride in
having their own special day with the ferrets in this one of a kind
fundraising event for a second year in a row... the Frisky Ferret Fun
Run.  As I had planned and announced in our newsletter a year ago, we had
a fabulous Obstacle Course for the ferrets to try and get through... it
was filled with socks, pant legs, squeaky toys, treats, clear tubes,
boxes, plant dirt and more... we even had a water hazard!  We handed out
a beautiful gift basket filled with goodies to the very last ferret who
never, ever made it out of the ring.  First, second and third prizes were
also awarded.  Special thanks goes to Tammy Cranswick who's talent of
making a pile o'stuff look absolutely gorgeous really added a special
touch to our event and for the people who received them.
 
Despite the fact that our city is host to the G8 Summit meeting happening
this week, and the day was targeted for G8 protesters in our area with
threats to shut down our event, we had a fabulous day.  We had well over
150 in attendance and fine weather that held out until the last item was
packed back into the car.  Then, and only then, did it rain.  Our
merchandise and raffle table were busy throughout the day, with quite a
few new members joining.  Our T-shirts were a big hit and extra ones are
on order.  The food was fabulous and feed back from the participants was
a great big thumbs up and better than anything they had participated in
prior, even from those who had participated in a similar event the day
before.  We were a little sun baked but happy it had gone over so well.
 
We tried two new things this year: We introduced Rent-A-Fert... a way
for non-ferret owners to spend some time with a foster ferret for a day.
As a result, we have quite a few interested parties in the fosters that
attended that day! It was a great way for the fosters to have a little
fun as well as interested potential owners to get a peek into being
around a fuzzy friend. And we introduced the Poop Police... our younger
members got the opportunity to tell the adults to bag it, or be tagged!
At the end of the day, we ended up ticketing one of the City Police vans
at our event... their horses had violated our event rules! It was all
taken in great fun! (Still waiting on them to pay for the ticket
though!)
 
Everyone received current information packets on ADV, poop, heat stroke
and more. Our volunteers were constantly kept busy answering lots of
questions on the care and health of their ferrets. The afternoon flew
by. One of our volunteers ensured that ferrets did not overheat by
spraying them down on his rounds. We are happy to report, no ferrets
were affected by the warm temperatures we had that day!
 
Special thanks to our fabulous sponsors: Petsmart, Fort Calgary
Historical Site, Fabutan, Auto Value, Black Raven Graphic Designs,
Pet Expo and Kahshe Productions, Eikon Designs Studio, Princess Auto,
Western Fresh Air Fireplaces and Pellet Stoves, The Calgary Stampeders
Football Club, Calgary Stampede, Calgary Zoo Botanical Gardens and
Prehistoric Park, IGA Garden Market, and to the many private donations
we received as well. And to Country 105 who gave us air time and
provided music for our event, and the Calgary Sun for doing a write up
for our event.
 
See you all next year... same time, same place! We already have bigger
and better things in the works!
 
Betty Janner
Interim Spokesperson
Alberta Ferret Society
Calgary Centre
[Posted in FML issue 3825]