Little Apple Splash on the GMCF Community Hour Show Episode - 308

We talk with Little Apple Splash organizer Kitty Pursley about the dock diving competition returning to Blue Earth Plaza and why it is one of the most fun free events to watch in Manhattan. We break down how the sport works, what makes this year special, and how local partners help bring a national-level canine competition to town. 
• what Little Apple Splash is and why it is family friendly 
• how Big Air, Extreme Vertical, and Speed Retrieve work 
• the scale of the setup, from dock length to pool size 
• how the sport spread through Doc Dogs and national events 
• June 12 to 14 competition dates plus the June 11 kickoff party 
• world champion Crystal McLaren returning for a fourth year 
• Aggieville Brewing’s Chili’s Bomb Brew honoring a retired military working dog 
• community support that makes the weekend possible, from Visit Manhattan to the fire department 
• silent auction fundraising, including online bidding and on-site items 
• event schedule, waves, finals, and America 250 features like presenting colors

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Transcript

Philanthropy Today Sponsor Message

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Philanthropy Today is brought to you by the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation. In this episode, we feature a recently broadcast segment of the GMCF Community Hour, as heard on News Radio KMAN.

What Little Apple Splash Is

0:13

We are back with the GMCF Community Hour here on News Radio KMAN. Kitty Pursley is back. Hello. Hey, this is our fourth year, Dave. Fourth year for Little Apple Splash. And you know, there there are probably a few folks out there that have no idea what Little Apple Splash is and how fun it is. Oh my gosh. This is the best. Family oriented, um, bring your kids, watch. Um, the dogs diving into the dock, uh, 40-foot dock. And uh, yes, very fun. And the splash, the dock is filled with water. Oh my god. Yeah. It's a jumping contest. It is. Um it's the what they call the premier canine aquatics competition. Okay. It is a national competition and it is nonprofit as well. Um, thankfully, run through GMCF, so I'm very appreciative of what you guys offer here. And it um offers big ear, is like a high or like the long jump in track. Um, extreme vertical, which is my favorite, is the high jump, and uh speed retrieve, how fast the dogs can run. There's a 36-foot dock that the dogs are on, they run through that, go into a 40-foot pool, which holds about 27,000 gallons of water, and uh the speed retrieve is the bumper at the end of the pool, so how fast they can go. Okay. This is just fun. It is. You know, I I I I've been there twice, and every time it's just like, I mean, I I I'm I'm just inspired. And I really don't know why I'm inspired. It's exciting. Anytime are involved, it just adds an extra element. And these are athletes and they know what they're doing and they love their jobs. And the handlers, it's the teamwork between the dog and and the handler. That's a special thing. And and and that's where you found a calling for you. You've been involved in this. I have. My daughter actually, excuse me, started first and got me

How Dock Diving Went Worldwide

2:22

involved. And just being able to do things with your dog or any animal, um, it's exciting, it's fulfilling, and it is fun to watch. Yeah, yeah. How did you get started? I mean, just that relationship with your daughter, and and you've been doing that for quite a while now. Jennifer started this in 2015, I think. She was visiting, I believe, in Florida and saw one. ESPN puts these on, and actually, ESPN is the one that is designed our equipment that um that targets the dogs um so we know exactly where they land in the pool. So there's no guess on what the distance is or the speed. Everything is is official. And um anyway, she got involved in it and brought it back to Kansas. This is something Doc Dogs is worldwide, it's in Europe, uh Italy, um, Canada, uh, I'm trying to Australia. And we do have a worldwide competition at the end of the year. This one will be in November in Madison, Wisconsin, I believe. Um, so it's it's just incredible. The Midwest doesn't have a whole lot, so that's why we brought Little Apple Splash to Manhattan.

Dates And The Kickoff Party

3:40

So tell me when it is. It is June 12th through the 14th. It's three days of lots of competition. Um and the 11th, June 11th, we'll have a kickoff party, uh launch party at Aggieville Brew Company. The competitors will be allowed to bring their dogs into the patio area, which uh for those that know Aggieville Brew, it's not dog friendly for the most part, but this is an exception, and it's a great way to meet competitors, sponsors, and the dogs. I understand that you have a world champion that will be amongst all the others. Yes. Crystal McLaren is the world champion. She is in Cape Coral, Florida, and she has been with us every year. So this will be her fourth year coming to Little Apple Splash. And uh when she comes, you get to see the best of the best. I want to jump back.

Chili’s Bomb Brew And Local Partners

4:42

Okay. Let's talk about Angieville Brewing Company. Okay. Because you'd made mention of this. They have a special treat for you. They do this year. Each year we have designed a beer with one of the dogs in mind. This year is super special because we have a retired working dog, military working dog, Chili. Uh, she's a female German shepherd. And um we're going to create, or Aggieville Brewing is creating what's called Chili's Bomb Pop and or Bomb Brew. And the reason it's got that name is Chili was an explosives detection dog and um spent eight years in the military. So she is. Oh my gosh, yeah. It's it's designed after the bomb pop. And the other thing that makes that kind of special is America 250 is this year. And so we're keeping with the red, white, and blue theme, uh, which kind of the bomb pop is. And um the bomb pop will be a cherry, lime, and blue raspberry sour ale, so it's gonna be incredible. They're gonna do a private label and can it in six packs, so that will be available for sale, and Chili's picture is on the label, so it'll make it pretty special. Oh, cool. Well, you know, one of the things that I've uh been so appreciative appreciative of that you've been able to do is is getting the partnerships. You know, you talk about Maggaville Brewing Company, and there's so many participants, um, people that have helped you along the way. Yes, you did mention GMCF, but I know that the CVB visit Manhattan is a key player in this. Big player. And they love they love this event. Yes, yes. Actually, it's Marcia's um kind of baby that this came to Manhattan because we were sitting visiting one day and she said, I saw this thing on TV. And I said, Well, guess what? We can bring this to Manhattan. And um, and not just that, but the fire department, they fill the pool. Um, Community First has been a great supporter all four years. Um, K-State Vet Hospital, uh, one of our big supporters. Um Manhattan City Lifestyle this month has a little uh narrative on Little Apple Splash as well as an advertisement in it. Uh, I'm trying to think Manhattan Running Company is a big part. I could not put this together without the community support. Yeah. And that's one of the things we love about living here is the amount of people that just pour their hearts into different things, especially things that attract people. And you know, you talked about the the family-friendly nature. There's not enough of those events seemingly. Yeah, you know, and it's great to be able to bring that to the forefront. Well, and Blue Earth Plaza is perfect because you know it's easy to get to, a lot of parking around it, and um we do set up bleachers so people can come stay. Uh, it just is incredible. You know, we talked about those individual businesses that have been supportive of you as sponsors.

Silent Auction And Free Spectator Access

7:52

I also understand that you have a uh fundraising auction. We do, silent auction, and things are donated. Um, Brooks Yamaha has donated a um a steel chainsaw, pretty good value. Home Depot has donated a couple of items. Um individuals have donated as well as several other businesses here in Manhattan. The silent auction will be online as well as items at the event so people can bid on them. Um, and that helps us raise additional money to bring this to our community. Do you have an idea of how many folks come in for the competition? You know, um we're limited as the number of dogs we can have because of the number of waves, obviously. Uh time is a constraint. But we probably have about with competitors and family, about 150 people from out of town coming in to compete, but then we also have hundreds and hundreds of just spectators that are coming by and watch. It's hard to get a count because there's no real entry and we don't sell tickets or anything, so it's just come and enjoy. Well, yeah, that's a big part of it. This is free for you to attend. This is absolutely. You find a place to park, you walk over, enjoy Blue Earth Plaza. Yep. It and and it's just a fun environment. Everybody is just so in love with everything that goes on. We do need more more free things in Manhattan for people to just come and enjoy. Yeah. You love doing this, don't you? Oh, I do. Can you tell? Yeah. Yeah. Because every time you bring joy, whatever you do, wherever you go. But you know, to see you just bask in all of this is just it's it's fun to watch. You know, not only do I organize it, but I also compete in it. So if you're there, you can see me running around like crazy trying to get everything done. But and you're not the only one local that participates. No, we have uh obviously my daughter, and she will have one of the top dogs there. Uh I talked a little bit about extreme vertical. We will have dogs coming in that jump over eight feet straight up in the air. And um there aren't very many of those in the world, so it's it's exciting. But yes, we do have a nice little local group that are learning how to do this. Yeah. Well, it's gonna be a lot

Daily Schedule And America 250 Finale

10:23

of fun. Let's go over the dates and the times again at Blue Earth Plaza for Little Apple Splash. The competition is actually gonna start Friday morning, uh, 10 o'clock will be our first wave. Saturday and Sunday will start at nine o'clock in the morning, and it will go through. Last wave will be four o'clock, and each wave is about two hours, so uh kind of ending around six o'clock. So all day long we go from one wave to the next, and each wave is like big air. We have eight big air waves, two EV waves, one Friday, one Saturday, and then one speed on Sunday, and then we'll go into finals four o'clock. I have to before we ran out of time. Because it's America 250, we have some unique things we're doing this year. Boy Scout Troop 284 is gonna present colors just before finals on Sunday. So that's gonna be awesome to watch. All right. Thanks for kicking in all kinds of neat aspects and getting the community involved and good work, good job. Thank you for doing this on behalf of the community and for your sport. You know I love it. I know you do. Kitty Pursley is her name. She's the organizer of Little Apple Splash, coming up uh next week. It's fast. Sneaking up on you, isn't it? Oh my gosh, yes. Yeah, yeah. Well, good luck with everything. Thank you. Coming up next, we're gonna visit with Manhattan Catholic Schools. I believe we have two sitting in on the show today. Melissa Solden, who is the advancement director, and we're gonna meet Jared Taylor, who is the principal of Manhattan Catholic Schools. When we return on the next segment of the GMCF Community Hour here on News Radio K M A N.