After 18 Years, Basset Hounds Won't be Waddling Through Birmingham

This year’s  on May 15 will feature marching bands, floats and plenty of candy for the kids, just like always. What won’t be there are the hundreds of basset hounds that have brought up the rear for the past 18 years.

“I’m so sad. I’m afraid there’s going to be a lot of disappointed people,” said Melissa Fenchel, president of Michigan Basset Rescue, which has organized Birmingham's Basset Hound Waddle — the culmination of the group's annual three-day fundraiser — for almost two decades.

This year, organizers rerouted the parade to begin on South Old Woodward and end in , where the will host a variety of games and activities. The parade typically ends in , but this year, the festival will be taking place in the park the same day.

Space the group has traditionally occupied on Martin Street alongside — where the dogs and their owners congregate before and after the parade — will not be available because of the art festival. The city was going to let the dogs gather in the grassy triangle between Old Woodward and Woodward instead, according to  Laura Broski. However, that grassy space is nearly a mile away from the parade's endpoint. The only place for the dogs to gather there is the parking lot near the Farmer's Market on North Old Woodward Avenue.

“We’ve been on Martin Street for 18 years,” Fenchel said. “People look for us there. They wouldn’t be able to find us (if we’re not there)."

In fact, most people don't even call it the Celebrate Birmingham parade, said  pet boutique owner Jeff Merriam, they call it the basset hound parade. "A lot of people look forward to this every year," he said. "It's what makes the parade fun."

Merriam said it's a shame the rescue group and city couldn't work out an agreement. "There isn't anything cuter than these dogs. They're so cute with their floppy ears and skin," he said.

Finding the funds to save Michigan's basset hounds

Fenchel’s mother, a former librarian at Baldwin Public Library, began the Basset Waddle 18 years ago as part of a fundraiser for the rescue agency. What began as a few booths during festival time would eventually grow into a parade that has attracted 400-600 dogs a year.

The waddle is now the culmination of a three-day fundraiser that includes an auction and dinner, this year in Troy. During the fundraiser, the Waterford-based group typically raises $30,000 a year, Fenchel said.

In the sole business of taking in and then adopting out basset hounds, Fenchel said Michigan Basset Rescue provides homes for more than 200 basset hounds every year. The group has been profiled on the Animal Planet cable network and, in 1997, in Life magazine.

The annual fundraiser, though, is key to the group’s survival, Fenchel said. Each dog requires $400-$600 worth of care and the group is receiving more stray and unwanted basset hounds than ever, Fenchel said.

A new place to waddle and roam

The only other option to save the Basset Waddle, according to Fenchel, is if the city rescheduled the parade so Shain Park would be available. 

The Celebrate Birmingham parade traditionally takes place during Michigan Week, which begins the third Saturday in May. The Birmingham City Commission . When the commission , Commissioner Stuart Sherman admitted it had scheduled "a perfect storm."

Broski said city staff was still working with Michigan Basset Rescue on a final plan for the dogs when the group pulled out of the parade.

“We will miss them,” she said, “and we welcome them back anytime.”

Fenchel said she considered renting a bus to take the dogs and their owners back to the grassy space on South Old Woodward, but the best estimate she could find was $700. The group can't afford to spend that kind of money, she said, especially when the entire point of the Waddle is to raise money.

Instead, the dogs will spending the day at Canterbury Village in Lake Orion followed by a picnic at Orion Oaks Bark Park, Fenchel said. 

“I lost a lot of sleep trying to figure out how it would work,” Fenchel said. “Ultimately, this is best for the organization and the dogs.”