Thank you, Asheville
Thank you to everyone who joined us at Dog Day Afternoon 2026 and helped make this year’s event such a success!
About 300 people came out to celebrate pets, meet local adoption groups and support animal rescue in Asheville and Western North Carolina. We are especially grateful to our sponsors, community partners and the local rescue organizations that made the day possible.
This year’s event helped at least eight dogs find homes through on-site adoptions. Many attendees also connected with local adoption groups to learn more about adopting, fostering and volunteering in the future.
Dog Day Afternoon returns in May 2027, but the work of caring for animals in our community continues every day. We encourage you to support the rescue organizations and adoption groups serving Asheville and WNC year-round, whether by adopting, fostering, volunteering, donating or sharing adoptable pets with friends and family.
Support local pet adoption year-round
Dog Day Afternoon is grateful to the local rescue organizations and humane societies working year-round to care for animals across Asheville and Western North Carolina. Please consider supporting these groups through adoption, fostering, volunteering, donations or sharing adoptable pets.
- Asheville Humane Society
- Mountain Pet Rescue Asheville
- Sarge’s Animal Rescue Foundation
- Valley River Humane Society
- Rusty’s Legacy
- Brother Wolf Animal Rescue
- Foothills Humane Society
- Charlie’s Angels Animal Rescue
- Blue Ridge Humane Society
- Misfit Mountain
- Fifi’s Friends Rescue at Laughing Dog Farm
- Crisis Dogs NC
- Yancey County Humane Society
Plan ahead for next year
Check back for 2026 details
Lake Julian Park is located at 406 Overlook Extension in Arden.
**Be sure to enter the park off of Long Shoals Road, near the Wild Wing Cafe (not the entrance on Hendersonville Road).
Parking
You can park inside the park or in the gravel lot at Wild Wing Cafe. There is a trail that leads from the parking lot to the park. There is limited parking, so we encourage carpooling to the event.