Pet contest in the works for the 2018 Taste of Annandale

Dog outfits at Chico’s Natural Pet Market.

The Taste of Annandale is pet friendly! If you bring your dog, cat, lizard, ferret, or whatever pet you have decked out in a Halloween costume you could win a prize from Chico’s Natural Pet Market in Barcroft Plaza.

Chico’s owner Danielle Areco organized and hosted the pet contest at last year’s Taste of Annandale and is doing it again for this year’s festival. The 2018 Taste of Annandale is Oct. 13, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., along Tom Davis Drive in the heart of the community.

Tentative plans call for the 2018 pet contest to have three categories: best overall costume; most creative, handmade pet outfit; and best duo, which could be two pets dressed as a couple or an owner and pet dressed in complementary costumes.

A contestant at the 2017 Taste of Annandale.

If you need some inspiration, Chico’s has summertime pet outfits in stock now and will have more costumes for the Halloween season.

Plans for the 2018 Taste of Annandale are well under way. There will be live music and dance performances, a 5K race, food trucks and restaurants, a full slate of children’s programming, a chili cook-off pitting the Mason Police District against the Annandale Volunteer Fire Station – and for the first time, there are tentative plans for beer sales by a craft brewery. More details to come.