Black widows at the Bend Pet Parade? A look at its fun, sometimes strange 100-year history | In Focus

The year 2024 marks 100 years since the start of the annual Bend Pet Parade. That’s 100 years of dogs, cats, horses, snakes, llamas and all kinds of critters — even black widow spiders!

This is not the 100th parade. Bend Park and Recreation District Community Engagement Director Julie Brown said it’s been canceled three times, so this is the 97th edition.

But even stranger — until recently, it was thought that this was only going to be the 92nd parade.

“Several years ago, we were under the impression that the first Pet Parade was in 1932. And with the help of our friends at the Deschutes Historical Museum, they found that it actually went back further than that,” Brown said.

“It actually shows up in the Ben Bulletin as early as June 21, 1924,” said Deschutes Historical Museum Manager Vanessa Ivey. That parade was actually held July 5.

There’s been a few adjustments over the years.

“It started as farm animals that would be a part of the pet parade. In the 30s, there became a rule that you were not allowed to have cross dogs or rattlesnakes. I’m not sure why anyone was trying to bring a rattlesnake to the pet parade,” Brown said.

“In 1934, though, the committee had kind of put their foot down and say more black widows,” Ivey said with a laugh. “So they had to separate where in the parade the dogs were versus where the cats were versus where the rats were. So you didn’t have all a commotion.:

The pet parade used to give out awards.

“We had a badger win an award one year,” Brown said. “In 1932, the winner of the pet parade … was a little girl here in Bend who was pushing cats in a stroller. You know, we don’t allow cats any longer. It’s just not a great experience for the cats anymore. But everything from birds all the way up to big dogs, horses, other livestock, it’s really fun for everybody to see the different types of animals.”

The one constant has been the popularity of the event and the joy it’s brought the participants and the spectators alike.

“In 1920, we had 5,400 people —population of Bend at that time. And in the 30s, there are records of around 5000 people that were attending this parade,” Ivey said.

“The common denominator in all of them is how happy everyone is,” Brown said. “The smiles, while the fashion may be changing and the different sizes of the animals and how much flair they happened to be wearing for the holiday has changed throughout the years. The enjoyment of it, that’s something that’s been very consistent.”

The parade kicks off at 10:00 a.m. Thursday. The route will head north on Harmon to Newport Avenue, east on Newport to Wall Street and down Wall to turn and finish at Drake Park. It’s the same parade route used for the Christmas Parade, Veterans Parade and others.

The lineup for those wanting to participate starts at 9:00 a.m. at Harmon Park.