home

1   2    next page ›

T

he Barking Dog hot dog stand had its last stand on Monday, and dogs across Pamlico County did well by it.

Roland Pare’s customers tucked $703 dollars in to the jar on his hot dog cart, all of which will go to Pamlico Animal Welfare Society.

In Oriental, that’s a line.

Roland and his wife Jennifer started the hot dog business a few years ago in the parking lot of the Town and Country grocery store. Things evolved. For one, the business became known as “Barking Dog” thanks to Bosun, a large black dog who would bark for food.

At first it was Jennifer who sold the hot dogs from the cart. When she took a job elsewhere a year or two later, Roland took over the job of serving up the steamed lunches. They bought a second cart for those times when they needed to be in two places at once.

One more time. Roland Pare at the Barking Dog Monday, wearing the hat from his new worksite, The Silos. He will be serving up more than hotdogs there.

Along the way, the Barking Dog cart and its blue and yellow umbrella became a familiar landmark in the Town and Country parking lot, tucked behind the tree near the gas pumps. That tree is one of the first in Oriental to bloom every year. A few winters of it doing so came and went.

The Barking Dog cart at the edge of the Town-and-Country parking lot.

Recently, the Pares decided to close the hot dog business, entirely. Roland had taken a job, just across the street, in the kitchen of The Silos restaurant.

They would roll the hot dog carts away one last time.

Word got out that Monday would be the Barking Dog’s last day and that all the proceeds were going to PAWS. Despite the cold, a long line stretched across the Town-n-Country parking lot and at 1:30, it was twenty people deep. (Some had friends hold their place in line, while they went inside to shop.)

Temps were only in the 40’s and people waited in line a half hour. Some buns, however, were warm.

Tastes in that line varied. Some ordered up chili on the dogs, some sauerkraut, some plain old mustard and onions. All of them were served up with Roland asking about the customer, amid a whoosh of steam from the inside of the cart.

Rising steam as Roland Pare adds the extras to a dog.

Roland later said that some people would buy a hot dog for themself amd one for their dogs, and then tuck a $20 in to the jar. At the end of the day, he found a check in the jar for $100.

A last laugh at the last Barking Dog….

The Pares are offering the two hot dog carts for sale. And even the SUV that pulls them. But Roland was emphatic Monday that the name of the business was not for sale. “Barking Dog” he says, is just too close in his mind to Bosun, who died a while ago.

More photos from the Barking Dog’s last day, on the next page:

1   2    next page ›

Posted Tuesday January 12, 2010 by Melinda Penkava

email this story | back to top