Pink Dawg and some new friends

Owner Paul Williams and Lacie were at Central City Park on
Monday afternoon.

If you’re rubbing your eyes this week because everything appears to be pink, it’s no optical illusion.

Yes, those pancakes are pink. So is that trash can. And those are pink bubbles coming out of the car wash.

Pink poodle? If you’ve been anywhere near Third Street or Central City parks this week, chances are you’ve seen Lacie.

I ran into Lacie outside the Long Building at Central City Park Monday afternoon. She was getting a lot of attention. A tour bus group from a church in Alabama was having a few Kodak moments with her. She seemed to enjoy all the attention.

I saw Lacie last year but had only gotten close enough to take a few pictures.

Five years ago, I did a column on Casper, the dog Paul and Alice Williams had prior to Lacie.

Casper died two years ago, and now Lacie has taken over the festival duties.

Lacie is a sweet dog, and is very gentle around children. Big people, too.

The face of the festival is often a dog.

And Lacie is quite the ambassador.

Also on Monday I happened upon a group of students touring the Woodruff House on top of Coleman Hill. They were from Central Georgia Tech and were in the "English as a Second Language" class. In other words, they didn't speak much English.

But one of the instructors recognized me, and explained to her students who I was. I also told them a little about myself and what I do for a living. They wanted to have their photograph taken with me. I told them I would post the group photo at the web site, so here it is. That's me somewhere in the middle.