Don't Worry, Corgi Fans, You Can Attend This Meetup
By Kirsten Onsgard in Arts & Entertainment on Mar 29, 2016 7:00PM
(Photo by Krysta Williams/Chicagoist)
Last year, Chicago's Montrose Beach played host to the widely popular and suddenly controversial Corgi beach day. Now in the latest edition of mass corgi fandom, more than 1,000 people have RSVP'd to attend a corgi meetup next month in suburban Deerfield, Illinois.
Corgi Beach Day was almost shut down last summer after organizers decided that the thousands of corgi-stalkers who had promised to attend just to admire the dozens of frolicking, smiley pups would overrun the event. It was eventually reopened to an exclusive and smaller group in the Chicago Area Corgi Owners Facebook group.
But the April 23 event—dubbed Corgi Conference on Facebook, which sounds a lot stuffier than its adorable cover photo suggests—should be safe for mere fans and non-corgi dog owners. Event organizer Kendall Seale said that though she is afraid of it being crowded, because it is in a public space she cannot police who attends. The dog park is located within Jaycee Memorial Park in Deerfield, Illinois, which is about a half a square mile in size.
"I am a bit concerned about the amount of people coming because I don't want it to get shut down," she said. "Next event I'll be a bit stricter about people coming without pets."
Seale previously organized a corgi meetup in West Dundee in March, which attracted about 30 little cuties and 20 humans. Though rain meant muddy paws and underbellies )which presumably increased the cuteness factor tenfold) she said the event prompted her to host more.
"It's been an amazing experience to host these meet ups," she said. "Seeing all the corgis and getting to know their owners is wonderful. It's a little corgi family of Illinoisans."
Meanwhile, several attendees on the event page are conspiring to select their best corgi disguises and corgi substitutes.
"Fat shaming won't be tolerated right? my corgi is on the chunkier side," one user wrote about her very St. Bernard-ish looking corgi.
Another user had a very lucrative idea and possible solution to this sudden corgi madness:
"My friend and I were wondering what you do if you don't have a corgi? Are you still permitted to come? Or will there be corgis available to rent?"
Sadly, no.