Animas Park pet event features Doggie Dash, adoptions, family fun

A 2-mile Doggie Dash will send runners and their dogs through Animas Park at 10 a.m. on April 25, with a free Bark in the Park adoption fair following behind it. The day is built around the Farmington Regional Animal Shelter, putting adoptable pets in front of families while drawing attention to the everyday costs of keeping animals healthy, housed and out of the shelter system.

Pre-registration for the event runs through April 18 at 5 p.m., and participants will need to check in and sign a waiver before the race begins. T-shirts for the 2026 event are scheduled to be picked up during registration between 8:30 and 9:45 a.m. The Doggie Dash loop is listed at about 2 miles, with the event centered at Animas Park near the shelter at 133 Browning Parkway.

Bark in the Park will take over after the run, bringing games, vendors, an adoptable pet parade and other family activities into the park. Puppy yoga has also been part of the free programming, giving the event a lighter side while keeping the focus on animals that need homes. The city has described the gathering as free and family-friendly, but its bigger purpose is practical: move animals into homes and give the shelter another avenue for outreach.

That matters because the Farmington Regional Animal Shelter is doing more than placing pets for adoption. The shelter also offers low-cost spay and neuter services, volunteer opportunities and lost-pet, surrender and reclaim services. Those services are the unglamorous backbone of animal control and rescue work, where each adoption, return home or sterilization appointment can keep another animal from entering the system.

By pairing a public race with an adoption fair at Animas Park, Farmington is turning a community event into a direct push for animal welfare. The setup links recreation to shelter intake, reunification and prevention, showing how local events can address stray-animal problems in a concrete way while giving residents a chance to bring a pet home.