Could your pooch be America’s Next Top Mongrel?
The Third Avenue Summer Stroll is looking for a few good dogs for its first-ever doggie talent show on July 18. Canine contestants don’t exactly have to save Jimmy from a well, but they should at least know how to work a crowd, one organizer said.
“I’m not looking for super dog, I’m looking for a dog that would make the crowd laugh,” said Derbra Capone, who owns Third Avenue’s Debra Rose Beauty Supplies and is organizing the show.
The competition promises prizes and glory for precocious pups who put on a good performance, Capone said.
The talent show is the latest addition to the ever-growing Bay Ridge street fest, which started in 2011 and has picked up steam in recent years, another organizer said.
“It very quickly has become an institution — even though it’s only in its third year,” said Robert Howe, president of Merchants of Third Avenue. “We have a higher level of merchant participation, and we have a heightened sense in the community looking forward to the Summer Stroll evenings.”
For four Friday evenings each summer, portions of the avenue are transformed into a European-style pedestrian mall where locals and visitors can shop, dine, and take in some culture.
The avenue will be closed between 69th and 80th streets on July 18 and 25, and 80th and 90th streets for Aug. 8 and 15, but cars will still be able to cross the avenue at cross streets, Howe said.
Indeed, the prospect of car-less streets gives local merchants a run for their money as the top draw for attendees, he said.
“You can play in the middle of the street,” Howe said. “People enjoy taking back their neighborhood.”
Doggie Talent Show (corner of 77th and Third Avenue, in Bay Ridge) July 18 at 6 pm. Summer Stroll (Third Avenue between 69th and 80th streets, in Bay Ridge) July 18 and 25, 6 pm. Free. (Third Avenue between 80th and 90th streets, in Bay Ridge) Aug. 8 and 15, 6 pm. Free. To register for the dog talent show, e-mail debracaopone@gmail.com.
