Corgi Party

This year, as they have for the past six years, packs of costumed corgis are expected to gather at a large indoor arena outside of Topeka for their annual corgi Halloween party. Last year, almost 200 Pembroke and Cardigan Welsh corgis attended, along with some 400 human chaperones. The event raises funds for Milford-based nonprofit Corgi Connection of Kansas (CCK). Jeanette DeMars, who founded CCK, says she learned about corgis “purely by chance” from seeing them on a television program.

By the summer of 2000, DeMars had her first corgi pup and shortly thereafter became involved with Friends of Animals, a Junction City organization, and its efforts to get dogs out of local shelters and in rescue groups to reduce the euthanasia rate.

“I learned a lot from Friends of Animals and eventually decided to concentrate my efforts solely on corgis,” DeMars explains. So in September 2009 she registered CCK as a 501 (c)(3) with the state and set about creating meetings and activities—with the help of others also interested in animal welfare.

Topeka resident Liz Syverson was part of a group of women who held a tea each year where they donated items to CCK and had the idea to create a “corgi parade.” She helped DeMars coordinate with Duane and Trudy Corkill, who agreed to hold the event at Summer’s Palace, their indoor horse arena.

“I’m not sure what the farthest distance traveled has been,” DeMars says, “but I know we’ve had people from Colorado, Nebraska, Texas, Oklahoma, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, and last year we had someone from New Mexico and California.” So what is it that makes corgis so special? According to corgi owner Dianne Alford, “They’re a wonderful different kind of dog: funny, hairy, short, loving, smart, entertaining, a good protector. I wish I could have a whole house full of them.”