Olde Towne Slidell could soon be going to the dogs…and cats too, for that matter.

A new organization, the Krewe de Paws, aims to engage those four-legged friends and their owners in the excitement of Mardi Gras.

According to Gene Duvic, owner of Abigail’s of Slidell on First Street, the idea seems to be a natural fit for Olde Towne. “My wife and I have always been dog lovers, and we have lots of friends who are cat lovers, so it made sense,” said Duvic. “We love going to the Krewe of Barkus (in New Orleans), and we realized we didn’t have anything like that in Slidell.”

Duvic hopes the krewe can be ready to parade through Olde Towne in 2010.

In addition to bringing attention to the historic district and, of course, having fun, the krewe will raise money for animal assistance groups or other similar organizations.

Slidell’s Main Street program manager, Catherine Olivier, was one of the founding members of the Krewe of Barkus in New Orleans.

“I’ve always liked the idea of turning Mardi Gras inside out, where the focus is on the individual krewe member, and in this case it’s a dog,” said Olivier. “It’s like seeing your child enjoy themselves at a party. The pets seem to have as much fun as the people do.”

Olivier said she is constantly amazed at the creativity exhibited by participants every year. Pet owners seem to love coming up with costumes for themselves and their furry buddies, and that creativity extends to the tiny floats that roll in the parade, such as the miniature “Popemobile” used one year.

Duvic hopes to cull ideas from Olivier’s expertise, and both feel the historic heart of Slidell is the perfect venue for such an event.

“Olde Towne is a great place for something like this to happen,” said Olivier. “The key is that there are a lot of merchants and people there who are interested in doing it.”

The idea for the pet parade grew out of an informal brainstorming session held a couple of months ago with Duvic and several other business owners who met to discuss ways to step up the revitalization of Olde Towne.

Representatives from several Olde Towne merchants’ and residents’ organizations participated, hashing out ways they could help each other accomplish various goals or projects.

“We basically went around and asked each other, ‘OK, what project would you like to do and how can we help you?,” said Duvic. “Individual groups were sort of isolated before, and now we’ve got a lot of great ideas that are completely possible because we’ve set the stage for communication.”

Among the projects that has taken wing is the Who’s on First? block party planned in conjunction with the Olde Towne Alive event on Friday that will coincide with the grand opening of the new Slidell Cultural Center.

The group will also soon launch the Olde Towne Customer Loyalty program, in which participating merchants will offer various discounts to customers bearing the program card.

The brainstorming sessions have evolved into a monthly forum, and the next one will be held tonight at 6 p.m. at the Olde Towne Arts Center, located at 300 Robert St. For more information on the Krewe de Paws or other Olde Towne projects, e-mail geneduvic@yahoo.com or call 639-3340.