photo by: Contributed by KC REGAP

Midnight the greyhound relaxes outdoors after her wild and frightening adventure running loose in Lawrence for nearly a month this summer.

An area nonprofit has scheduled a celebration to thank the many people involved in the nearly monthlong, anxiety-ridden effort to capture a greyhound who escaped her handler as she was being dropped off at a Lawrence foster home this past summer.

As the Journal-World reported, a small army of volunteers worked to capture Midnight, the 75-pound, 6-year-old greyhound who crisscrossed Lawrence for weeks, evading multiple traps and other attempts to corral her. She was finally caught when she wandered into a garage and the homeowner closed the door behind her.

The celebration from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday at Fields & Ivy Brewery, 706 E. 23rd St., will celebrate Midnight’s safe return and will thank those who rallied to find her, according to a news release from the nonprofit Kansas City REGAP, which stands for Retired Greyhounds as Pets.

The event will feature a meet-and-greet with Midnight and other adoptable greyhounds from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m.

“Rescuing Midnight was a community-wide effort that wouldn’t have been possible without the help of countless KCREGAP volunteers and Lawrence residents who printed and hung flyers, shared her story by word of mouth and on social media, reported sightings, sent doorbell camera photos, searched on foot, by car and drone,” the release said. “One neighborhood even synchronously barbecued in the hopes of luring her to safety.”

photo by: Contributed

Midnight ventures into a kennel that was set up to capture her, but the greyhound exited without triggering the trap.