Pups and their parents celebrated the eighth annual Paw Walk last Friday in downtown Statesboro.

A costume contest was held, letting pet owners dress their furry friends up and let them strut their stuff.  

This year’s festivities coincided with First Friday, an event where local stores and food trucks set up pop up shops downtown. Both events are hosted by the downtown Statesboro Development Authority. 

“I plan all the downtown events including this one. It’s a First Friday event. And this is one of our projects as a development authority to build out the dog park,”said Statesboro Development Authority project manager Elena McLendon.

It’s also the second straight year where both the Paw Walk and Arbor Day were being celebrated on the same day.

The Development Authority collaborated with Keep Statesboro Beautiful, an environmentally friendly group focused on keeping Bulloch County well, beautiful.   

“We try to bring a lot of ways to recycle to this location. We do a lot of litter clean ups, to help the litter issue here in Statesboro,” said Amanda Clements.

For more information about future community based events, you can visit the Development Authority’s website at statesborodowntown.com.