AMARILLO, TEXAS -- Forget the dog days of summer, the Dogie Days of summer are back and it all got started in Dumas Wednesday evening.
Put on by the Dumas Lions Club, carnival rides and food booths opened up at 6:00 p.m. Wednesday night. The Dogie Days annual barbeque will get started Thursday morning at 11:00 and will be served in conjunction with live music, followed by a golf scramble on Friday and a parade on Saturday!
But Lions Club Head Wrangler Milton Pax said it's the good old-fashioned barbeque that draws out some of the Dogie Days fans.
"We still barbeque the old fashioned way," he said. "They're putting the meat in the ground, it'll cook all night, they'll dig it up in the morning and it'll fall apart when you unwrap it."
Pax said they plan on serving around 7,000 people during Thursday's barbeque, but some other Dogie Day regulars were more excited about the carnival rides.
"She rides her rides," laughed Ricky Lucero, father of four-year-old Jazleen Lucero. "I mean, I ride some of the rides but usually I just bring her so she can have a good time."
One of the main attractions though, Pax said, will be the drawing for the winner of the Jeep Wagoneer the club members have been selling raffle tickets for for months. That drawing happens Saturday night at 9:30 p.m. You can still get in on that raffle for only five dollars -- just ask a Lion's Club member or check with almost any local business in Dumas for a ticket.
All of the money raised from Dogie Days goes back into local charities in Dumas.
"It goes to folks like Meals on Wheels, the Senior Center, we have a children's camp in Kerrville that we contribute heavily to," added Pax. "And then there are things that just come up through the year, somebody needs a helping hand. We had a gentleman last year some time back that had a leg amputation and needed a ramp but didn't have the money for the materials so we chipped in and got that done, so just things like that."
