Corgi Conference Called Off Over Lack of Park District OK

A gathering of corgi dog owners and admirers of the breed at Deerfield's Jaycee Dog Park has been called off because the event had not been permitted by the park district, which was concerned about the amount of possible people attending.

RELATED: Corgi Conference Gives Dog Breed Owners, Fans Meet-Cute Opportunity

Kendall Seale, who was organizing the April 23 Corgi Conference, posted the following announcement Thursday on the event's Facebook page:

THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED!!

With the amount of people wishing to attend the park district informed me of the safety hazardous and that their park can not handle this many people! I'm sorry to have to do this but out of respect and safety of other people in that area I have to cancel this.

The Corgi Conference Facebook page has since been taken down.

Rick Julison, executive director for the Deerfield Park District, told Patch the district had only found out about the Corgi Conference after seeing a media report on the event. Any special event held at a Deerfield park must be approved by the district's board, Julison said.

After seeing the huge response Seale was receiving on the conference's Facebook page, district officials were concerned that the less-than-half-acre park at 1026 Wilmot Road couldn't handle that large of a crowd. On top of that, youth baseball and soccer leagues already had been approved to use the park that same day, Julison said.

"That facility can't support that," he said.

Julison contacted Seale on Thursday and explained the park district's event approval process. Although the Corgi Conference needed to be canceled, Julison praised Seale's enthusiasm in trying to organize the event.

"I don't want to take the spirit out of it," he said. "It was a learning experience for her."

A Facebook message was sent by Patch to Seale on Friday afternoon asking for comment.

This isn't the first time crowd concerns have affected a corgi-centric event in the Chicago area. Last September, Corgi Beach Day at Montrose Dog Beach almost faced cancellation because of worries over too many attendees—particularly an influx of corgi-less people known as "corgi lurkers"—according to the Chicagoist.

PHOTO: A Pembroke Welsh corgi (Damon D'Amato | Wikimedia Commons)