This series is the result of two afternoons of photography—one year apart—at an annual Halloween dog-costume contest.

The contest originated when dog owners on New York City’s Lower East Side petitioned the city for an official dog run. Permission was granted with the proviso that the community finance and manage the designated area. The first Halloween dog parade was organized as a fund-raiser in 1990 and First Run in Tompkins Square Park became the first off-leash park for dogs in New York City.

As constant companions and intimate friends, pets become their owners' alter egos. At the parade, owners reveal their secret identities by dressing-up their dogs as refugees, ghosts, villains, and superheroes. By 2006 Friends of First Run reported that attendance had grown to more than 2,000 spectators and 400 costumed dogs competing for $5,000 in prizes. Spectators come for the unexpected and this year, dogs masqueraded, as bumble bees, rabbits, sheep, lions, old ladies, chauffeurs, samurai, policemen, sheriffs, leprechauns, jelly beans, Confucius, and Siamese twins.

First Run is about to undergo a major make-over, which is due to begin early in 2007—and the improvements will showcase it as a model dog-park for whole country. Among other upgrades, the run will include a state-of-the-art organic running surface hospitable to dogs’ paws and easy on their hips, separate areas for small and large dogs, running water and dog baths, wheelchair access (for owners), and a flowering tulip tree in the center of the run. The community has been challenged to raise $50,000 of the $150,000 needed for these renovations.

These photographs offer a glimpse at how a community can experience boundless joy watching dogs run free in the city, while contributing to a worthy cause.

Abraham Menashe
New Yorkk City, 2006