Last Friday, Meltdown and Spelunk.in hosted DOGEPARTY WEST, an epic celebration of the dogecoin culture in Southern California. 250+ dogecoin enthusiasts came by through the night, with some bringing their own dogs to enter in the doge contest.
The doge contest happened both online and offline, and people could vote on their favorite dog. Each had its own wallet address, accessible by QR code. Foxy Roxy won “Best in Show” with 61,930 dogecoin (votes), and will be getting a spacesuit. She’s one of the Socal Shiba Inu Rescue’s dogs, who was badly hurt but healed up awesomely. At the event she was very patient, smart, and friendly, and we applaud her victory. Here’s a “before” and an “after” pic:
All of the dogecoin raised at the event went to Southern California Shiba Inu Rescue Inc and Two Dog Farms. Both groups rescue dogs from kill shelters and find them loving forever homes. Two Dog Farms also works with Jindos, which are larger versions of shiba inus.
Socal Shiba: http://shibainurescue.org/
Two Dog Farms: http://www.twodogfarms.com/
Both have dogs you can adopt, so after playing with shibes in person, if you want one, you should rescue one!
Two Dog Farms allows dogecoin adoptions, which is fairly rare. We’re told they have been embracing it pretty well and will continue to do so.
The charities raised 621,422 dogecoin between direct donations and dogecontest entries.
While there was a lot of partying with our DJs Headshot and Carl Schwenk and free booze, people also got to learn a lot about digging dogecoin at the mining demonstration that Sebuh was doing. He was also selling discounted mining gear to help new shibes learn more about the hobby. MeltdownTV was running a livestream of the entire event, using multiple cameras and running interviews. An astounded 300,000 viewers popped in to check it out through the night, with roughly 200-600 at any given moment. There was much love for our shibes that we shuttled to the back for closeups and interviews.
Towards the back of the shop there was a gaming area – the kickstarter for DogeCards (doge-themed Fluxx) had released that day, so people were betatesting that. Lone Wolf was giving demos of their game, too. This was the first time either of these games had been seen by the public. Neon Roots had their live crypto ticker on display, which was glowing in the window of the store and like 12ft long. Another group showed up with dogecoin badges and pogs, and did a bunch of exciting giveaways. Cruithne Traders was selling some of their “to the moon” artwork as well.
We also made some cardboard rocket props that people could draw on, and a light-up rocket ship for dogs to wear for photos. Dogecoin cupcakes and cookies also happened. They were given to those who donated to the charities. 
We had custom bitcoin/dogecoin tshirt collabs for the event, with 50 Reddit and Moolah versions available. People could buy things from the store with crypto to get a free shirt. Such incentive!
A heartfelt thank-you from Spelunk.in to everyone who helped out with DogeParty West, both on-line and off. Free booze was covered by Meltdown Comics, Michael Lim, and Spelunk.in. Erin+ Natalie- thanks for handling ice and QR coding the dogs. Sebuh- thanks for printing (copies plus takes btc!) + helping organize dogs, and putting us in touch with two dog farms. Jessica and Dave- you guys rocked the bar! <3 Pizza came from DogeCards and Eric Nakagawa. DJ Headshot + Carl Schwenk: your sets were awesome! Thanks for moving large objects. Such press from Boing Boing, Coindesk, and Bitcoin Magazine, with twitter support from YourAnonNews. Cnelson- yay speakers! Seric thanks for making cardboard stuff! Thanks for tweeting @owlpelletz @bitcoinbegger @houseofdoge @findadragon @littleshibe @dogepromotions @thebitcoinwife. Reddit+ moolah, thanks for the support. Thanks Meltdown + Francisco for hosting + promoting! And much love to everyone who brought their real life doges to the event, even those who didn’t fully understand dogecoin.
So community. Much love. Let’s do this again sometime.
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Single photos on this page by Vinh Tran. Flickr shots by Michael Lim. Bubby shot by Two Dog Farms. Hurt roxy pic by Socal Shiba Inu Rescue. Healed roxy pic by Alexander Nicholson. All photos used with permission.