The scrunchy face. The little curly tail. It’s easy to see why people all over the world love pugs. One place in particular that has a case of pug fever is in the UK. Every year since 2014, thousands of people have gathered for PugFest. Next year, organizers are hoping to hold the festival in Scotland.
The festival started in New South Wales as a way to remember the tragic death of a popular pug named Poppy. Father and son Martin and Rob rescued Poppy when she was 3 years old. She became a huge hit on Twitter, gaining thousands of followers. Rob decided they should organize a meet-up for all the fans.
Shortly before the event occurred, however, Poppy became very ill. She was diagnosed with a tumor that she, unfortunately, could not recover from. Rob held the meet-up in her memory and expected about 50 people to attend. To his surprise, more than 1,500 showed up and PugFest was born.
Since that first year, attendance has risen dramatically. The event has now attracted over 125,000 visitors, with many of them coming from Scotland. Scots made the journey down to the Manchester and Birmingham venues. Now, the organizers have decided to bring the event to them.
Organizers are currently looking for a suitable venue in either Glasgow or Edinburgh. There’s even a rumor that the festival might have a Highland Games theme to suit the location. But no matter where it ends up taking place, it’s going to be a pug lover’s dream.
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