There were no Spike Lee costumes.
Fort Greene Park, famously lampooned in its modern form by Fort Greene expatriate and noted crank Spike Lee as looking like the “motherf—— Westminster Dog Show,” held its 16th annual Great Pupkin dog costume contest on Oct. 25. The winner from the crowded pack of 124 canine contestants? A dog dressed up like mild-mannered public-radio host Ira Glass.
“Um, flattered … I guess,” Glass wrote on Twitter.
(In the pooch pageant’s defense, Lee pal and “Do the Right Thing” star Rosie Perez officiated last year.)
A former Brooklyn Paper food columnist made the trek all the way from Bath Beach with her husband to enter their hound-mix Rowdy. The pooch has won big in Bay Ridge before, but this was his first shot at the Pupkin crown and Fred Zorn spent four months knitting him a Godzilla costume for the occasion.
“We thought we’d go for the big one this year,” Sarah Zorn said. “Everyone assumed I knitted it, but it was all him.”
Fort Greene residents Chris Cobb and Sorby Grant brought their dog, Enid, dressed in a Superwoman costume that garnered a lot of attention from tykes in attendance. Enid’s owners said they were limited to the sights the Super-pup wanted to see.
“The dog often dictates our activities,” Cobb said. “She’s very curious.”
The fido fashion show was part of the park’s Halloween festival, which also featured a pumpkin giveaway and a hayride.
A park steward said he really likes the hayride because it gives Brooklyn kids a taste of the country, complete with a horse-drawn carriage.
“It never ceases to amaze me,” said Charles Jarden, chairman of the Fort Greene Park Conservancy. “It’s like seeing a little bit of yesteryear. And for inner-city kids it’s a real rarity.”
The autumnal shindig cost the Conservancy around $15,000, and drew 6,000 visitors to the park throughout the day, according to the park honcho. The first 1,200 kids got their own pumpkin and a coloring book about the history of the park’s iconic Prison Ship Martyrs’ Monument.
“We give them some history, but we also give them what they want,” Jarden said.
