UPDATE: Batavia is Letting the Dogs Out

Editor's note: This post has been updated to say another bulldog has been sold, and provides a revised date for the auction. The updates are below in bold.

Twenty-five bulldogs will be "unleashed" around Batavia June 10. Not the flesh-and-bones kind, but 30-inch-high by 50-inch-long replicas, all painted and decked out by local artists. The event will begin at 7 p.m. at the The Peg Bond Center on the Riverwalk, 151 N. Island Ave., hosted by the Batavia Library Foundation, Batavia Parks Foundation and Batavia Foundation for Educational Excellence.

The summer display is reminiscent of the Cows on Parade in Chicago in 1999.  

The bulldogs, each professionally painted by an artist and seal-coated by Boyce Body Werks of Batavia, will be on display downtown until some of them are auctioned at a Sept. 10 dinner at the Fox Valley Country Club. There, 14 of the bulldogs, which were sponsored by a local business, will be auctioned off to the highest bidder. As of May 27, the other 11 already have been sold, among them three, 44-inch dogs to the Batavia High School Student Council with Batavia Bulldog Boosters, The Holmstad, and Veolia. 
 
Also on June 10, the 4th annual Green Walk in downtown Batavia will be held along Donovan Bridge. Starting at 5 p.m. MainStreet is partnering with the Batavia Community Garden, Batavia Environmental Commission, Batavia Bicycle Commission and other green partners to present a Green Walk. Local groups will have demonstrations and displays to raise awareness of the art of going green.