Hat & Tails
Click here to purchase tickets to this year's event! Last year, Paws in the City held its annual gala, Top Hat & Tails, on June 9, 2012 at the Frontiers of Flight Museum at Love Field. Guests were refreshed with cocktail creations by Maker's Mark, Effen Vodka, and Aged Cruzan Rum and appetizers from BreadWinners, Fish City Grill and Gordon Biersch while perusing over the silent auction. Guests then enjoyed a delicious sit down dinner catered by Wendy Krispin and desert by Society Bakery and Pokeyo's Cookies and Ice Cream. The evening’s mission is to raise funds to rescue dogs and cats set to be euthanized at the city shelters. Host Preston Pearson and Master of Ceremonies Scott Murray started the evening showing our guests how their donations help by bringing dogs on stage and showing a film about the past year successes at Paws in the City.
Scott and Preston worked the room like pros during the Live Auction. Bidding wars developed for the Dallas Mavericks and the Dallas Cowboy's packages and Scott negotiated a deal to sell them twice, making the Live Auction a huge success!
The main event — the dance competition — paired local celebrities with Arthur Murray dance instructors ala ABC’s Dancing With the Stars. Each couple performed one dance routine such as the Argentine Tango, The Hustle, The Swing and the Salsa. The female contestants wore dazzling costumes actually worn on the ABC hit show. Click HERE to see our celebrity dancers These celebrities went above and beyond to create a fun and exciting show, working hard and devoting numerous hours to learning a dance.
And what’s a dance competition without judges? This year’s esteemed panel included: Dallas Cowboy Great Drew Pearson; America's Sassiest Lifestyle Guru, Steve Kemble and Arthur Murray Dance Studio owner Claudia Marshall.
Co-Founder of Paws in the City and Event Chair, Becky Haisma presented Tina Fairbanks the St. Francis of Assissi Award and Dr. Vandermeer and Dr. Dearixon the Man's Best Friend Award for their dedication to helping the homeless animals of our community. We also acknowledged all of the participating boarding kennels for fostering our dogs.
This year we remembered those we lost in the past year that were close to Paws in the City and the Top Hat & Tails event. Joe Avezzano, Al Huchet and Janie Tilford. With the help of a devoted friend of Preston and Janie's, we created the Janie Tilford Fairy Godmother Fund and presented a check on stage to Preston. This fund will help people who need extra funding to pay for an expensive treatment, test or surgery for their own pet or someone who finds a stray and is willing to help them if they can find funding to pay for medical bills.
Finally, the judge’s scores were combined with gala guests’ votes to determine the favorite dancer of the night. The "Lucy" Trophy (named for Preston's dog) went to WFAA ABC's Shelly Slater. And we had a few adoptions as we had some dogs and cats available and looking for a new home.
Top Dog Sponsors of the evening were Brett & Lori Landes, Albertsons, Nicole Hutchison, Whole Foods, Jack Knox, Arthur Murray, Murray Media, Digital Documents Overnight and My Print Choice. A big thank you to all of our sponsors (click HERE to see our sponsors) whose generosity allowed us to put on one of the most unique and entertaining fundraisers in town! Thanks to all who attended and donated!
Click here to purchase tickets to this year's event! Last year, Paws in the City held its annual gala, Top Hat & Tails, on June 9, 2012 at the Frontiers of Flight Museum at Love Field. Guests were refreshed with cocktail creations by Maker's Mark, Effen Vodka, and Aged Cruzan Rum and appetizers from BreadWinners, Fish City Grill and Gordon Biersch while perusing over the silent auction. Guests then enjoyed a delicious sit down dinner catered by Wendy Krispin and desert by Society Bakery and Pokeyo's Cookies and Ice Cream. The evening’s mission is to raise funds to rescue dogs and cats set to be euthanized at the city shelters. Host Preston Pearson and Master of Ceremonies Scott Murray started the evening showing our guests how their donations help by bringing dogs on stage and showing a film about the past year successes at Paws in the City.
Scott and Preston worked the room like pros during the Live Auction. Bidding wars developed for the Dallas Mavericks and the Dallas Cowboy's packages and Scott negotiated a deal to sell them twice, making the Live Auction a huge success!The main event — the dance competition — paired local celebrities with Arthur Murray dance instructors ala ABC’s Dancing With the Stars. Each couple performed one dance routine such as the Argentine Tango, The Hustle, The Swing and the Salsa. The female contestants wore dazzling costumes actually worn on the ABC hit show. Click HERE to see our celebrity dancers These celebrities went above and beyond to create a fun and exciting show, working hard and devoting numerous hours to learning a dance.
Co-Founder of Paws in the City and Event Chair, Becky Haisma presented Tina Fairbanks the St. Francis of Assissi Award and Dr. Vandermeer and Dr. Dearixon the Man's Best Friend Award for their dedication to helping the homeless animals of our community. We also acknowledged all of the participating boarding kennels for fostering our dogs.This year we remembered those we lost in the past year that were close to Paws in the City and the Top Hat & Tails event. Joe Avezzano, Al Huchet and Janie Tilford. With the help of a devoted friend of Preston and Janie's, we created the Janie Tilford Fairy Godmother Fund and presented a check on stage to Preston. This fund will help people who need extra funding to pay for an expensive treatment, test or surgery for their own pet or someone who finds a stray and is willing to help them if they can find funding to pay for medical bills.
