It’s about time dogs are able to hold office in the dog-friendy Downtown Harrisonburg! This spring and summer we’ll be introducing the Harrisonburg Dog Mayor campaign, where dogs of the Friendly City will have the opportunity to run for office and become Harrisonburg’s inaugural dog mayor!

We have received 30 nominations for Downtown Harrisonburg's first dog mayor, and now it's time to VOTE! Learn more about our candidates on our Hburg Hounds webpage and Facebook album, and cast your votes using the instructions below.

The winner will be calculated through a combination of donations and social media engagement (50/50 ratio). For donations, $5 = 1 vote (through this GiveButter campaign page). For social media engagement, 1 like = 1 vote (on designated Facebook and Instagram posts only). The election period will run through May 31, with an official announcement in early June and inaugural celebration during Best.Weekend.Ever. on Saturday, June 14.

Voting Procedures

Donation-Based Voting (open now)

We are making the donation-based voting campaign more enticing by offering campaign managers prizes when teams reach certain donation benchmarks! Campaign managers can opt into receiving rewards for hitting the donation milestones below.

Reward Tiers

$25 Team Total = 12 custom stickers
$50 Team Total = 10 custom buttons
$100 Team Total = custom lawn sign
$150 Team Total = custom t-shirt
$1,000+ Team Total = custom pet portrait

There are multiple ways for people to vote for their favorite dog mayor candidates, including "Joining a Team" as a "Team Member" and voting directly on the page. Instructions for both are below.

Joining a Team as a Team Member

Teams are pre-made for all of our dog mayor candidates. Find your team by scrolling the Team Leaderboard or using the drop down menu after clicking "Join a Team" or "Fundraise" and creating a profile.
As a Team Member for your candidate, you can create a personal goal and share more information about your candidate and campaign as a "Story." This will create a custom page that you can share with friends, family and followers.
Teams can have multiple Team Members

Voting Directly

If you would like to donate to vote without creating your own page, you can click "Vote" at the top of the hub.
Donors will select the number of votes they want to submit, or enter in a custom number.
- IMPORTANT - Donors will need to select a team or team member from the drop-down in order for the vote to count toward a specific candidate
Donors can opt to leave a name, message, image etc.
Donors will be prompted to enter in payment information.
If donors would like to donate via check, please make payments to HDR and send to 217 S. Liberty St. #204, Harrisonburg VA, 22801.
- Please write the candidate's name in the memo line.

What Do Donations Support?

Donations from this campaign support HDR’s nonprofit mission to build a downtown destination where businesses thrive, and people enjoy memorable experiences. The PAWSOME donations from the Harrisonburg Dog Mayor go towards making our work possible, including initiatives like:

HDR’s festivals and concerts which are pet friendly. Learn more about HDR’s annual events page.
Supporting small business owners downtown. Learn more about Downtown’s Dog-Friendly businesses page.
Keeping up the momentum with HBurg Hounds dog influencer program. Learn more about HBurg Hounds under the FAQs.

Our HDR team FUR-EVER grateful for your support! We are working on other dog-friendly projects and events so please stayed tuned, subscribe to email newsletter, or follow HDR on social. If you would like to learn more about HDR’s work or how to get involve please feel free to email hdr@harrisonburgva.gov or call 540-432-8922.

Social Media Voting

Facebook Votes (starting May 2):

Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance will created a Facebook album here with a campaign graphic for every candidate along with the candidate's campaign (i.e. platform, slogan, etc.) in the description. Each like on the individual's photo will be one vote for that candidate. Likes on the album, posts about the album, etc. will NOT be counted as votes.

Instagram Votes (starting May 5):

Visit @downtownharrisonburg on Instagram and locate our Dog Mayor highlight in our profile to see and vote on our candidate's campaign videos. Each like on the individual's video in the story highlight will count as a vote. We will randomly select the order of videos that are posted starting the week of May 5, with all videos posted by May 9.

In-Person Voting

HDR may also have in person voting at various booths and events this month. Votes from these events will be added to the social media portion of the campaign.

Vote for Downtown Harrisonburg's Dog Mayor

Together we can make Downtown Harrisonburg PAWESOME for dogs & humans!

Team Leaderboard

Team Members