THE BALLOON MAN

Flying dogs to replace racing pigs at Staten Island's Richmond County Fair

 

The Ultimate Air Dog Show will be a new addition to the Richmond County Fair Sept. 1, 2 and 3. The act replaces the traditional pig races, which were scrapped this year over concerns about swine flu
from:  silive.com
By Deborah Young/Staten Island Advance
Sunday, August 26, 2012
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. --
The pigs have gone to the dogs, so to speak, at the Richmond County Fair.
The Labor Day weekend festivities this year will scrap pig races -- a decades-old tradition at the fair -- in favor of an act showcasing talented local pooches running down an elevated plank and diving into the water.
"It's like the doggy Olympics. These are amateurs. They will dash down a raised dock, leap into the air, and they are judged on a variety of different ways: They can catch things, on distance, height," said Ed Wiseman, executive director of Historic Richmond Town.
Dogs are replacing pigs at the three-day Island event in response to a new strain of swine flu that has been linked to pigs exhibited at fairs in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan and Hawaii.
The flu is not easily spread to people, and most cases have been mild, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention. But the number of flu cases -- 154 through July -- spiked during agricultural fair season.
read more:
http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2012/08/flying_dogs_to_replace_racing.html#incart_river