It's always good to be outdoors in Michiana.

And today I have a special friend with me.

I have my own little puppy, Charlie.

See, I Charlie sometimes you guys have seen him when we've done zooms from home, but today we're getting him out and about for an awesome event that's happening over here at the Elkhart Environmental Center.

And I have my friends with me here, Chris and Annie.

Thank you guys so much for joining us.

And thank you for having Charlie with us today.

Yeah.

Thank you for bringing him out.

You guys have your event.

This is happening for a number of years now.

Is this your sixth annual sixth annual wagon in the woods?

All right.

I know that you guys can always bring pets out here, so we'll talk about that, too.

But let's talk about this event and how it's grown over the years.

Tell us more about how we can bring our special friends here.

Yeah.

So September 27th, last Sunday of September from 11 to 3, we have the wagon event wagon of the woods event here.

And that's to help bring attention to the Elkhart Environmental Center, all the great trails and events that the Environmental Environmental Center has, as well as supporting Tracking the Shadows, which is a nonprofit dog tracking and rescue organization that all the donations and proceeds go to support.

Is that a national organization?

It's not.

That's local here, here.

Okay.

That's awesome.

And how do they work within within the county, I guess.

So Kira is the the founder of Tracking the Shadows.

And what they do is they find stray dogs and they set up live trap safety traps form.

They they bring the dogs in.

Once they capture the stray dogs, they rehab them, get them all their medical needs and adopt them out.

Oh that's fantastic.

I've never even heard of that before, so that's great.

That's really wonderful.

Okay, so wagon in the woods.

It's coming up.

You can bring your friends.

I'm assuming we need to maybe register them ahead of time.

Not at all.

No.

Okay, so what do I need to know before I bring my friend show up here?

You're ready to have a lot of fun.

We have two pooch parades, and it's one of the biggest events that we have.

Two pooch parades where if you want to address your dog up and in your favorite costume, and a lot of people take the opportunity to dress themselves up in costume as well.

We have a lot of prizes for the best dressed dog, best upcycled costumes, best lookalike costumes, superheroes, and a lot of other things.

So feel free to bring your dogs out, celebrate all the great things Environmental Center has and show your dogs off from the Pooch Parade.

I know one of the things that you guys focus on to is sustainability, and that kind of goes in with the costume contest to.

Right?

Yeah.

Do you want to talk about that?

Yeah.

I mean, it's a it's a fun way to tie the two things together.

But I mean, really the highlight is all of our local vendors because there's a lot of really cool things happening out here.

So it's just a way to kind of bring like our site, which is a fun place for dogs to be like every day, but it really comes to life the day of the event because they've got like microchipping, nail trims, and then they've got all kinds of dog vendors for like puzzles and toys.

And then we have the off leash agility area.

So it just takes it to a whole new level.

That's fantastic.

Where can people get more information about what's going to be here?

Day of.

So everything's up on like the Facebook page.

I think they're highlighting all the different vendors that are coming right now, but there's a whole list of like all the different activities and then the categories for the Pooch Parade.

Yeah, because this is like a time when I need to make sure I'm parading my pooch around.

So on the two, if you want to come in the very first one, come here at 11.

The second parade is at two.

Okay.

We're trying to split up the people coming in so they can enjoy all the food vendors and all the different events that are happening.

And as someone who has a younger puppy too, obviously everybody needs to be leashed.

Yes, yes.

Everybody's leash.

Make sure you least make sure you're trained.

Make sure you're able to be around other animals too.

But you know, this is a great space for those dogs, especially who maybe are learning it on the go.

Being outside in nature is a great way to kind of explore.

So let's talk about what you guys have to offer and maybe go for a walk.

Sure.

Can we do that?

All right, let's go.

Come on.

Charlie.

So with all the trails that you guys have here about how much walking space is accessible to, I guess, walking with your pets, I mean, all of it.

We've got some off trail explorers that happen all the time.

Okay.

But, yeah, we've got a lot of different paths that we can take.

So we've got wetlands, prairies, woodlands, we've got the river.

And then we have that paved river greenway trail that goes from here to Suda Baker.

And it also connects to the Maple Heart Trail, so you can get all the way to Oxbow if you want.

And so for the short walkers, we've got like little, little trails like this that just kind of loop off of each other.

So it's really easy to just kind of do a short walk or just kind of keep expanding for however long you're comfortable.

Sure.

And then we've got the longer ones this year as well as other years.

We will have the Elkhart Police K9 doing demonstrations so you can come out and watch the canine units do different sniffing exercises and agility courses.

And then this year, the fire department is bringing out their fire dog.

Oh, really?

Which is fantastic.

Is that like a real fire dog or is that, like the one in the fire?

Oh, the real fire dog.

Yep.

Sadie will be here.

Last year, Mayor Rod brought his pub.

Yep.

Simba.

Simba will be here.

Simba I love the names of dog.

Is there like a naming competition?

I feel like there has to be.

There should be, should be.

Our dogs are all there.

Named after.

Well, we have Charlie, but his middle name is a trio.

So we are we are fans of of that.

And then we have Benny Faulkner.

So never any stories of big hit when the guy's got to find something funny so they can wear their costumes, but they can also explore here too.

There's obviously plenty of areas to do, kind of on roading and off roading, if you will.

What else do you guys want to tell us about the environmental Center?

Because this is a great little space that you guys have here, but I shouldn't even say little.

This is actually pretty mass.

Yeah, we have about 80 acres that we take care of out here, so there's plenty of space for people to walk around or for the pups to explore.

It's it's just it's a perfect place for dogs.

I mean, big or small, and it's open year round.

So our trails are open to dogs every day.

And not a lot of people know about us, so we're kind of a quiet spot at the moment.

Hopefully, you know, we get busier when more people know about us.

And this is a great way for people to come out and explore, too, because you get to bring your special friend with you as well and kind of get to know the area a little bit better.

Yeah, I love that.

Now, I know you said that you guys do stuff here around.

You have other activities that are coming up to.

Do you want to touch on any of those?

Yeah.

So we do programs and events throughout the year.

This is my favorite.

Obviously dogs everywhere.

You can't beat that.

But our next big event is a big Halloween event.

So if you like exploring the trails, this is a great way to see them in a new light because we'll be decorating them for Halloween.

Really have a bunch of kid friendly trails, and then we'll have a scary trail.

Or volunteers dress up and like, jump out and scare you.

It's really fun.

Oh my gosh.

Okay, I need like a ticket for that.

Or I can just know it's completely free.

We've got like food vendors, live music.

It's it's a fun three day festival that we have out here.

Okay, so now you know my dog is a little bit on the side.

So he does not he does not get wet or or anything like that.

But I know there's a lot of other dogs, probably labs especially, who like to kind of get in the water.

Now, maybe not this pond right here like pools at the event.

And it was like a hot day.

Like we'll have water dishes, but we had, like a bunch of puppy pools and stuff last year.

Oh, okay.

Great.

But is there actually water here that they can get into as well?

Yeah.

So let's go check out the boat launch is like very.

We have a couple of dogs that come out almost every day and walk.

And the river is definitely a spot that they gravitate to.

Okay.

I mean, this is all just part of the walk.

How many miles of trail do you guys have here?

That's a great question.

And I don't know that we haven't measured.

I just know that from here to see the baker is a mile.

So that's the one I hold on to.

That is the one I have.

Okay.

But we can get in this water here.

Yep.

This is the Elkhart River.

Actually, at a lot of our events, the aquatic biology team from the cities here.

And they pull like fish out and they kind of show people what's living in here.

And they talk about like the water quality.

So yeah, it is it is safe for people and dogs to hang out in.

And we have a lot of dogs that take advantage.

And I remember I know we talked about it.

One other time where you guys actually have an event where people can come out and help clean up the water, too.

Yeah, our annual river cleanup.

Yeah.

That's awesome.

So another great thing for you guys that are that you're doing here too.

He's very sniffy here, but he could get in the water.

I'm not going to let him get in the water, that's for sure.

But if they wanted to come out and bring the house shallow.

Is this here?

Well, it looks like the river is down right now, so it's it's pretty decent.

I brought my dog out.

She likes to splash around in here, and you can kind of see it.

Actually, right now, most of this is like a little sandbar.

And there are a couple of, like, drop offs where it gets a little bit deeper and they'd have to maybe swim.

Okay.

Because I've seen the panic looking around when she goes a little bit too far, I can't touch it anymore.

But yeah, that's where a life jacket when he goes in the water.

So most of the area here, like there's a good shelf where you can kind of run around and we see deer, like, run across the river all the time.

So we know there's definitely like shallow parts.

Well, now the sun's not shining, but we're still going to be tracking the shadows.

And that is the organization that you guys are supporting throughout the wagon in the woods event too.

So can people find out more about how you're supporting that organization and how they can help to?

Absolutely.

So on the Facebook page, there's a lot of great resources on ways you can help support.

Some people like to bring donations and food or collars, those types of things.

It's a free event.

You can come out and enjoy the time, and one of the best ways you can help support is just share the Facebook page so other people are aware of it.

All right.

Are you ready to go, Charlie?

Let's go.