{"id":147453,"date":"2026-02-07T20:24:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T20:24:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/147453\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T20:24:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T20:24:07","slug":"tampa-bays-bark-in-the-park-event-celebrates-49-years-of-helping-animals-in-need","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/147453\/","title":{"rendered":"Tampa Bay&#8217;s Bark in the Park event celebrates 49 years of helping animals in need"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/vlcsnap-2026-02-07-14h31m12s816.png\" alt=\"\" data-v-7d0efd03=\"\"\/> article    <\/p>\n<p data-v-2899190a=\"\">TAMPA, Fla. &#8211; Today is a day for the dogs in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/tag\/us\/fl\/hillsborough\/tampa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Tampa Bay<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p data-v-2899190a=\"\">&#8220;We\u2019re so lucky to be able to do this for 49 years in a row. I mean, and the turnout still grows every single year. So that&#8217;s so incredible. We are very thankful for this community,&#8221; Regan Blessinger with the Humane Society of Tampa Bay, said.<\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WTVT\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-2899190a=\"\">The backstory:<\/p>\n<p data-v-2899190a=\"\">It\u2019s the 49th annual Bark in the Park event, where the canine community comes together to raise money and awareness for animals in need.<\/p>\n<p data-v-2899190a=\"\">&#8220;The main event is this peer-to-peer fundraising, raising money for the animals,&#8221; Blessinger said. &#8220;They do a one-mile walk on the river walk, and that really is the biggest thing that we want to push to people. But of course, then we have this event, a lure course. We have vendors, food trucks, there&#8217;s entertainment. I mean, there&#8217;s a lot going on. Dog pools, if it gets warm enough. And I mean, it&#8217;s just an incredible day.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-2899190a=\"\">MORE NEWS: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/news\/tampa-armed-robbery-suspects-assaulting-employee-nail-salon-police\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Tampa armed robbery suspects accused of assaulting employee at nail salon: Police<\/a><\/p>\n<p data-v-2899190a=\"\">FOX 13\u2019s very own Walter Allen was among the many people showing their support, serving as today&#8217;s emcee, as\u00a0the humane society\u00a0made\u00a0sure to merge both sides of the bay.<\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WTVT\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-2899190a=\"\">What they&#8217;re saying:<\/p>\n<p data-v-2899190a=\"\">&#8220;You are not only helping animals on this side of the bay in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/tag\/us\/fl\/hillsborough\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Hillsborough<\/a>, but also in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/tag\/us\/fl\/pinellas\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Pinellas <\/a>as well,&#8221; Allen said.<\/p>\n<p data-v-2899190a=\"\">The donations given are helping even more of our furry friends in a big way.<\/p>\n<p data-v-2899190a=\"\">&#8220;The donations go directly back into the animals. So that&#8217;s housing, feeding and medical care. That&#8217;s making sure that they have all their vaccinations, bay and neuter before they get adopted. I mean, everything,&#8221; Blessinger said.<\/p>\n<p data-v-2899190a=\"\">Regardless of whether our four-legged companions are big or small.<\/p>\n<p data-v-2899190a=\"\">&#8220;I think this just reinforces how many people love animals and have a passion for animal welfare which is really good,&#8221; Blessinger said.<\/p>\n<p data-v-2899190a=\"\">There\u2019s awareness and fun to be had for all.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WTVT\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-2899190a=\"\">Big picture view:<\/p>\n<p data-v-2899190a=\"\">The humane society hopes to raise more than $200,000 this year to help every animal in need.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WTVT\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-2899190a=\"\">What you can do:<\/p>\n<p data-v-2899190a=\"\">If you would like to donate or would like more information on Bark in the Park, click <a href=\"https:\/\/secure.qgiv.com\/event\/barkinthepark2026\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"group-source-paragraph\" data-v-4fbf7207=\"\">The Source: Information for this story was gathered from interviews with the Humane Society of Tampa Bay and FOX 13&#8217;s Walter Allen.<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/tag\/us\/fl\/hillsborough\/tampa\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-2899190a=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tampa<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/tag\/us\/fl\/pinellas\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-2899190a=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Pinellas County<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/tag\/pets-animals\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-2899190a=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Pets and Animals<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"article TAMPA, Fla. &#8211; Today is a day for the dogs in Tampa Bay. &#8220;We\u2019re so lucky to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":147454,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[47,629,115,8713,1157,135,137,136,628],"class_list":{"0":"post-147453","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa","8":"tag-fl","9":"tag-hillsborough","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-pets-animals","12":"tag-pinellas","13":"tag-tampa","14":"tag-tampa-headlines","15":"tag-tampa-news","16":"tag-us"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147453\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}