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PHOTOS: Creative Kids, Dogs Wow Wicker Park Crowd with Unique Costumes

By Alisa Hauser | October 27, 2013 8:39am
 About 100 dogs decked out in costume paraded around the fountain in Wicker Park at the 5th annual Boo-Palooza celebration Saturday.
Dog Parade and Costume Contest at Boo-Palooza
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WICKER PARK —  The chilly morning didn't stop droves of kids, dogs and their crafty parents/owners from parading in costume around a historic fountain in Wicker Park Saturday.

"It seemed like people took the pet parade more seriously than the kid parade," said Adam Housely, chairman of the volunteer-run Wicker Park Dog Park Committee, which hosted a dog costume contest at the fifth annual Boo-Palooza in the park Saturday.

About 100 dogs paraded around the fountain in Wicker Park at 1425 N. Damen Ave. as judges selected finalists by giving purple pompons to their owners. 

Enter your pet's get up into our Halloween costume contest for a chance to win a $100 gift card

 Highlights from Boo-Palooza in Wicker Park.
Kid Costume Contest at Boo-Palooza in Wicker Park
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Winners were then selected by audience applause, with Addison — a mutt dressed as a Cha Cha dancer — and Sawyer, channeling "Tom Sawyer," both capturing first place. 

Sebastian Cole, 14 months, was dressed as a human piñata and won top prize in the kid's competition.

Winners of the dog costume contest received baskets full of treats from Doggy Style Pet Shop at 2023 W. Division St. and Kriser's at 1640 N. Milwaukee Ave., while Cole walked away with a $100 gift certificate to Children's Dentistry of Bucktown & Wicker Park, 1611 N. Wolcott Ave.

Other canine winners included Harriet Potter, a French bulldog who was dressed as an ice cream sundae and snagged second place.

A trio comprised of a Pomeranian dressed as a sheriff, a black Labrador as an outlaw (with a dead body on its back) and a Golden Retriever as a horse nabbed third place. 

In the human division, the inspiration for Cole's costume came from a neighborhood grocery store.

"He always points at the piñatas in the window of a Mexican grocery shop on Division Street around the corner from where we live," said Sebastian's mother Brodi Cole.

Brodi Cole estimated she spent 12 to 15 hours crafting the handmade costume for her son.

Though he was not a finalist, several people seemed to enjoy a bloody sock money, worn by a mostly disguised Joshua Cummins, 6.

Though the sock monkey looked hand made, Cummins' mother informed a reporter that her son's grandmother "found it somewhere on the Internet."

For some, like the Iannantuoni clan, dressing up was a family affair.

After 4-year-old Rocco decided he wanted to be Buzz Lightyear from the Pixar movie "Toy Story," the entire family followed suit — literally — with Jackson, 2, dressing as Woody, and parents Rachel and Johnny putting on cowboy hats as well.

"It's fun, it's our third year here," said Rachel Iannantuoni.

Boo-Palooza was organized by the Wicker Park Advisory Council with support from several volunteers and sponsors. For more information on the council, visit www.wickerpark.org