Three competitors stepped it up at Brook Run Park on North Peachtree Road, but Paddy was head and horns over the competition, winning Dunwoody Parks & Recreation’s first pumpkin-eating contest on Nov. 2.
About 100 people showed up on the lawn to take pictures with Paddy, a pregnant nanny named Snowflake, and Tugboat (who also goes by Chocolate or Coco, depending on who you ask) before the trio dug into a meal of pumpkin seeds and other goodies.
Residents were encouraged to donate their pumpkins, which, if not used in the competition, would be scattered in farm fields.
After about five minutes, Paddy, who never came up for breath, cleared his meal, which was served in a hollowed-out pumpkin, and awarded the top prize, a gold necklace festooned with softball gloves.
While the dozen or so donated pumpkins sported traditional designs, a few went above and beyond, like one designed by Chesnut Elementary School art teacher Renee Rogers Fraser, depicting a Labrador.
“Thanks to the Dunwoody Parks and Recreation Department for giving us such a fun way to ‘recycle’ our pumpkins,” said Dunwoody Mayor Lynn Deutsch, who attended the event. “It was so great to see how happy our kids (the human ones) were as the goats devoured their treats.”
The three members of the Capridae family are owned by Get Your Goat Rentals, with whom the city contracts to clear invasive plants from 15 city-maintained properties, including the retention ponds around Brook Run Park.
The goats are a cost-effective, safe, and more environmentally sound alternative to manually clearing out area retention and detention ponds, Dale Harris, an operations and maintenance supervisor with Dunwoody’s Public Works Department, told Rough Draft Atlanta in June 2024.
“There can be a lot of hidden rocks and snakes in these areas, which would make clearing them out dangerous,” Harris said. “It’s also so much easier for a goat to access these areas than staff. The terrain situation is irrelevant because they can go anywhere.”
Depending on the area, the goats can clear a congested retention or detention pond in a matter of days, he said.
The employees of Get Your Goat Rentals are more than just voracious vegetarians. The company offers Goat-Grams, a 30-minute visit to the recipient of one’s choice for pictures and cuddling.
The company noted that goats are becoming a popular feature at prom picture-taking parties as well.
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