While 30,000 kids look for Easter eggs on the White House lawn today, here in Small Town America many families did the same on Sunday.
But we also have some events unique to Middle America.
This past Saturday in Indiana, Pennsylvania, a local veterinarian (Douglas Blais) put on an Easter hunt that was really for the dogs.
Indiana, for those who don’t know, is famous mostly for native son James Stewart and as home of the fictional Harvey, a pooka friend of Elwood P. Dowd. Those who knew Indiana even a couple of decades ago can almost recognize the fictional town Dowd and Harvey inhabit as being very similar to Indiana at the same period.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_(film)
Pookas, being a part of Celtic mythology, are one species Dr. Blais doesn’t treat, limiting himself to animals smaller than 6 feet tall invisible bunnies.
But Doug does have some rather large patients, including Great Danes and his own Irish wolfhound.
This year the Veterinary Clinic sponsored an Easter Kong hunt – strictly for the dogs.
The Kong is a hollow hard rubber toy and Saturday morning around 10:30 dozens of dogs, with their owners trailing along, spread out across a couple of acres of the Clinic grounds searching, not for brightly painted eggs but for doggie Kongs filled with treats.
It is easy for the sophisticates on either coast to laugh at such events but the Blais Easter Kong hunt is the sort of thing that binds together small towns, bringing neighbors together for a bit of fun and fellowship – something I feel certain Mr. Stewart would have heartily enjoyed.
As the morning drew to a close, no Kongs were harmed in the event and every dog got his prize.
Blais Veterinary Hospital, 107 Blais Road,
Indiana, PA 15701.