A Walk in the Park: Brett Konomos Attempts World Record

Brett Konomos wanted to break a world record. His first idea was to get 300 Golden Retrievers in a room at once, but after his friend convinced him that the record might be too extreme for a first time world record attempter, he continued to research. His irresistible urge to pet any dog in sight led him on to an idea: on Nov. 3 he would attempt the world record of walking the most dogs in one kilometer at the Bandstand in Swope Park — more subtle for a first time world record attempt.

He decided to name this world record event, “A Walk in the Park,” which consisted of dog check-in, music, food and beverages, setting up the long leash with the dogs and finally the world record attempt.

The Bandstand at Swope Park was alive with not only chatting but lots of barking. People were enjoying live music from local artists Matt Ford and Hattie Campbell. There were donuts and coffee provided by Donutology. All food and beverages at the event were donated by local businesses like Donutology.

There was a slight chance of rain but that was the least of Konomos’s worries. He ended up only having 29 dogs to participate in the walk due to owners backing out last minute. This was not enough to break the record of 35.

Although he didn’t have enough dogs, the lack of four legged friends did not stop him from putting on his harness and attaching the dogs he did have to the leash. He attempted to make it almost halfway — due to some of the dogs getting loose on the walk.

Junior Maddy Slaughter originally met Konomos through K-Life and Kanakuk and learned of the event through his Instagram posts — where he did most of his advertising. She signed her Beagle, Rico up as soon as she heard about the event.

“I think it’s really cool and a really creative idea rather than having a boring fundraiser,” Slaughter said.

Although the band made up of East students, the Whips, were unable to perform at the event they were impressed with Konomos’s hard work in putting on the event.

“I was in support of [the idea] and what it stood for. This guy was just trying to break the world record out of his own goodwill,” Whips member Aidan Connely said.

Konomos put on two events to raise money for “A Walk in the Park.” He held a raffle at Bar K in the River Market with 18 local prizes, donated by local businesses where he raffled off a Bar K membership, a Zum Soap dog themed gift basket and more at the event held on Sept. 11. Additionally he hosted a music night filled with karaoke at the Buffalo Room in Westport Sept. 27. The admission was $5.

Donors who gave at least $15 received a blue, cotton shirt that had an Irish Doodle wearing a gold medal on the front with the words, “A Walk in the Park” along with the sponsors on the back.

Being a big fan of the KC Pet Project — the largest no-kill animal shelter in KC — Konomos contacted the nonprofit to get their to permission to use their logo on the shirts. When he was granted permission he began raising money for “A Walk in the Park.”

“I didn’t want to do it just for like personal achievement, I wanted to do it for something people can get behind, support, and want to actually participate in instead of like me feeling good about myself,” Konomos said.

In order to make the event happen Konomos had to gather a parking permit, waivers, insurance and went around to businesses such as Blade & Timber, Raising Cane’s and Chicken N’ Pickle asking if they were interested in sponsoring or donating to the cause.

“It was after I failed and I was walking back, I had a leash on my shoulder and I was super bummed and I’m just walking back and every single person I passed was like, ‘Dude great job this was so much fun,’” Konomos said. “They reaffirmed to me that this was a good idea even though I didn’t do what I thought I was going to do.”

Now that he’s been through the experience, he is going back and looking at videos and photos taken at the event to see what he can fix about the record in order to possibly beat it in the future.

“A Walk in the Park” raised $1,200 for the KC Pet Project and about 100-150 people attended. The volunteers were very impressed with how much Konomos raised and how many people got involved because they’re a non profit organization with limited number of volunteers for such a big organization. They offered Konomos a plaque to put in their headquarters to display the money he raised and the hard work he put into the fundraiser.