Strut Your Mutt 2024: Best Friends’ pet adoption event happens Oct. 19

With 29 years of family friendly pet events under its belt, Best Friends has the perfect formula to promote pet adoption and fostering. You need people and pets. Check. You need a fundraising walk. Also check. And you need to make it a party. Double check. 

Bring your human and canine family to Best Friends Strut Your Mutt 2024 in Liberty Park on Saturday, Oct. 19. Not only will you have a day of fun, you’ll also be supporting the initiative to make Utah a no-kill state by 2025. The outdoor celebration of our furry friends runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Take a walk around Liberty Park to raise funds during the Strut Your Mutt 2024. Photo credit: Chad Hurst

Follow the yellow brick road

Remember to wear your ruby slippers. This year, the theme is “There’s No Place Like Home,” and the planning crew at Best Friends is going all out. Jackie McKay, director of Best Friends marketing and strategy, said the walk path will be a yellow brick road, and you and your pet are encouraged to dress up as characters from the classic movie “The Wizard of Oz.” 

“I’m super excited about the theme this year,” she said, “to see all the Totos and Dorothys dressed up.” Be sure to get a photo op with the cardboard cutouts. The Tinman and Scarecrow also may be on hand to emcee the Liberty Park family event, although their voices may sound a lot like a couple of DJs from Salt Lake City’s Now 97.9 FM.

Walk the walk

The main event, of course, is the fundraising walk. You gather pledges, then on Saturday at noon, you take a stroll around the park with hundreds of other pet friends. Sign up beforehand on the Best Friends website.

When you do, you can select from a network of shelters to send your donation. Even your $35 entry fee will go to your shelter of choice. While October 19th is the Strut Your Mutt walk, you can continue to gather pledges throughout the month of October. McKay said this year's goal is to raise $100,000, about $40,000 more than last year's event.

Sign up to Strut Your Mutt here →

Dress your pup in its best costume and enter one of the contests at Strut Your Mutt 2024. Photo credit: Chad Hurst

Contests

In addition to the walk, there are loads of other family friendly pet activities, McKay said. You can participate in the contests: best costume for your dog, best trick by your dog, and best “Wizard of Oz” human/dog costumes. And if you’re thinking it’s not worth dressing up, think again. For the Oz-themed contest, the grand prize is dog food for an entire year.

There will also be a raffle and drawing for prizes donated by local businesses. Winners will take home dog related gifts, or even an overnight stay and tour at the Best Friends Roadhouse in Kanab.

Activities

Strut Your Mutt is for the dogs and the kids. Bring them both to the family fun zone to pick up a glitter tattoo, make some paw prints or decorate bones for your dogs. There will also be a climbing wall the whole human family can try — the human members, that is.

Come hungry! There will be four food booths selling vegan and vegetarian dishes. Not only will you get a great meal, part of their proceeds will be donated to Best Friends. For the adults, there will be a beer garden, sponsored by Templin Family Brewing. It's open from 12:30 to 4 p.m.

Visit the vendors to pick up some swag for you and your pooch. Photo credit: Chad Hurst

Free concert

Stick around for some live music, and not just the howling doggos kind. Nashville recording artist Kaleb Austin is scheduled to perform an hourlong set. The Eagle Mountain resident currently has over 1 million followers on TikTok, although he’s probably best loved by his own two dogs.

Vendor booths

Before or after the walk — or both! — stop by the 40 unique vendors. There will be merch for your pooch — everything from dog tattoos to dog tags — as well as booths from community leaders. Like sponsor KSL Classifieds, they are there to support Utahns' efforts to become a no-kill state.

You can also get some tips at the Ask a Dog Trainer booth. McKay said, “If you’re having problems with your dog, you can visit the booth to ask an expert for training ideas.”

Strut Your Mutt takes place Oct. 19 at Liberty Park. Photo credit: Chad Hurst

Adopt a pet

And if you don’t have a dog? You’re still invited. In fact, Strut Your Mutt is the perfect opportunity to find one. Shelters are bringing pooches needing a home; you can adopt one on the spot!

“There’s No Place Like Home” coordinates with Best Friends’ national theme, “Bring Love Home.” That’s what these events are all about. “We are at the finish line to reach that no-kill goal by the end of 2025,” McKay said. “The more animals we get adopted and the more we raise, the closer we are to that goal.”

Search pets currently available for adoption on KSL Classifieds.