Park City’s Bark City Festival grows into a beloved community fundraiser
An agility course, a Dirty Dog 5K and free admission turned Bark City into a destination outing for Park City dogs and their people at Willow Creek Park.
The fastest dogs at Bark City Festival had a place to burn energy before the crowd even reached the vendor village. At Willow Creek Park, the agility course sat alongside a dog dive, a Dirty Dog 5K and a lineup built for active dogs and the people who plan outings around them.
The 2026 festival was free and ran from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at Willow Creek Park, 4460 Split Rail Lane, in Park City. Organizers filled the day with dog adoptions, the agility course, Bark Silly Tricks & Fashion, food vendors and music booths, with Dirty Dog 5K registrants getting a dog bandana, race bib and access to the festival.
That mix is what has helped Bark City outgrow the feel of a neighborhood pet fair. The event was hosted by the Park City Area Home Builders Association, Basin Recreation and Premier Pet Lodge, and Jenn Lewis, with the Home Builders Association community service committee, was credited as the organizer who first launched it four years ago. Her idea came from wanting a community project beyond the association’s signature Showcase of Homes fundraiser. “Park City is full of dogs, right?” Lewis said, before adding, “what if we did a dog festival?”
It started small, with roughly 10 vendors and about 200 attendees, anchored by a dog-house building competition in which members built elaborate miniature dog houses and auctioned them off for local causes. Since then, the festival has grown to around 40 vendors and hundreds of visitors, with attendance nearing 600 the previous year. That growth has turned the event into a reliable mountain-town draw for owners of high-drive dogs who want more than a stroll around the park. They get a place to run, jump, try an agility course, watch demos and stay for a full day.
The fundraising piece has expanded with it. The festival’s sponsorship packet describes Bark City as a nonprofit festival for pets, and says proceeds benefit local nonprofits, charities and shelters. Coverage of the event’s return after a weather cancellation in 2023 showed the same formula taking shape again in Park City: dog competitions, vendor booths, music, food and drinks, and playtime for dogs and owners.
Bark City has grown because it gives energetic dogs an actual job to do for the day. In a town where dogs are part of the outdoor rhythm, the agility course is no side attraction. It is the hook that makes the whole festival feel built for the dogs who need to move.
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