{"id":137162,"date":"2026-07-01T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/montezuma-county-to-hold-first-canine-election-at-wags-wine-event\/"},"modified":"2026-07-06T12:22:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T18:22:17","slug":"montezuma-county-to-hold-first-canine-election-at-wags-wine-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/montezuma-county-to-hold-first-canine-election-at-wags-wine-event\/","title":{"rendered":"Montezuma County to hold first canine election at Wags & Wine event"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"This
This year, Montezuma County will elect its first Mutt Mayor in an event hosted by Montezuma Mutt and ZU Gallery. The proceeds will benefit For Pets\u2019 Sake. (Courtesy of Jodi Jahrling)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Is it pawsible that your dog could be the first Mutt Mayor of Montezuma County? Registration for the election is open now, and the canine election will be held at a dog-friendly event Sept. 5.<\/p>\n

The \u201celection\u201d will also feature Wags & Wine at Montezuma Park, courtesy of Montezuma Mutts and ZU Gallery. The event will feature live music, curated wine and mocktail tastings. It is restricted to those 21 years old and older and will run from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. The Mutt of Montezuma contest will benefit the local animal nonprofit For Pets\u2019 Sake.<\/p>\n

Any dog in Montezuma County is eligible to run for Mutt Mayor, and dogs can be registered now for $5. Submissions will include the dog\u2019s name, the Montezuma town or community where the dog resides, a campaign slogan and a photo. The candidates will be announced on social media prior to the Sept. 5 election.<\/p>\n

The community will get to vote for their pick at the event. The top three dogs in number of votes will receive free admission to Wags & Wine and walk a stage runway. The overall winner will be crowned Mutt Mayor live in front of attendees.<\/p>\n

Tickets for Wags & Wine will go on sale at zugallery<\/a>.com\/wags, with prices ranging from $15 to $35 depending on whether a dog will be attending with their owner. General admission tickets will include a six-pour wine tasting flight, and designated driver tickets will include a curated mocktail flight. Anyone who does not drink alcohol is welcome to opt for the mocktail flight option.<\/p>\n

Because the event will take place during National Recovery Month, the event is partnering with Young People in Recovery Cortez to feature a special, fourth mocktail in the flight.<\/p>\n

Every ticket includes one full-pour drink token, a branded tasting glass and an Instax Mini portrait session with photographer Alysha Rivera. All dog attendees will receive a branded bandana. The official wine partner for the event is DuWest Wines of Cortez. This winery, led by winemaker Casey Duncan, will provide all six wines for the tasting flight.<\/p>\n

\u201cMontezuma Mutts started as a way to celebrate the dogs of this county. Wags & Wine is the next chapter,\u201d ZU Gallery owner Jodi Jahrling said. \u201cWe wanted to build something that felt like a real community afternoon. Wine, music, dogs and a very important election. And we take our mocktails just as seriously as the wine. September is National Recovery Month and everyone deserves a great glass in their hand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Live music will be led by opener FA3 QU33N and headliner Goathead. Abboe Sound will provide the sound.<\/p>\n

Local food and dog-friendly vendors are welcome. Vendor inquiries can be sent to meet@zugallery.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

bduran@the-journal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This will be Montezuma County\u2019s first \u2018Mutt Mayor\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":137163,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5903],"tags":[21,6441,510,28,60,29,6419],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-137162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-cortez","tag-dogs","tag-festive-event-including-carnival","tag-headlines","tag-montezuma-county","tag-newsletter","tag-tj-trueanthem"],"acf":[],"author_name":"Website Administrator","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137162"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137162\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":137765,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137162\/revisions\/137765"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137162"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=137162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}