On Saturday, October 24, from 1 to 4 p.m., the patio and taproom at Elation Brewing on Colley Avenue will host a runway show where the models are adoptable shelter dogs and the escorts are the city's first responders. The event is called Heroes and Hounds, and it is billed as an inaugural event.
The premise is simple and a little disarming. First responders trade their usual duties for a leash and a walk down the runway, paired with dogs currently waiting at the shelter. The Friends group describes it as "The Heroes & Hounds Walk, pairing local heroes with adoptable pets." Attendees can meet the dogs directly and learn about fostering and volunteering.
The costume contest is hero-themed, and it is open to the public's own pets — bring a dog dressed as a superhero, a sidekick, or whatever the household considers heroic. Beyond the runway and the contest, the afternoon includes pet-themed vendors and community resource tables, raffles and a silent auction, and information for anyone curious about fostering or volunteering. Organizers are pitching it as fall family fun, and admission is free. The city calendar listing puts it plainly: "FREE and all are welcome!"
That the event is happening at a brewery is not incidental. Elation Brewing, at 5104 Colley Ave. in the Ghent area, is a dog-friendly brewpub where pets are welcome inside and out; the brewery keeps water bowls on hand and makes dog biscuits from its spent grain. It also houses the Elated Kitchen, a wood-fired pizza operation from The Bakehouse at Elation, and an attached coffee shop. For a shelter fundraiser built around dogs, it is close to an ideal room.
The story behind the hosts goes back further than the party. In 2005, a small group of caring citizens banded together with the goal of providing additional medical care for animals in Norfolk's city shelter, spurred by a $750 donation. The effort grew, and in 2008 the organization's name was changed to Friends of Norfolk Animal Care Center. What began with a six-member board now runs on a 14-member board with a volunteer network and an annual operating budget of nearly $100,000, all of it benefiting the Norfolk Animal Care Center and community.
That support fills a specific gap. The City of Norfolk provides for the basics at NACC — housing, feeding and initial vaccinations — while the Friends group pays for what comes after: medical procedures, a foster program for the most vulnerable animals, special adoption events, and programs like Golden Paws for senior pets and Best Buds. The organization also runs a free monthly spay/neuter clinic for Norfolk residents, a Pet Pantry providing free food both on-site and through a mobile route, and supplies for foster families.
The scale of the need is the reason a runway show makes sense as a fundraising format. NACC is an open-admission shelter, providing a safe haven for animals from the City of Norfolk. Staff describe their work as making the best possible match between an adopter and a new companion.
That line is the emotional engine of Heroes and Hounds. A shelter runway is a strange, cheerful spectacle — dogs in costume, first responders out of uniform, a brewery full of families on an October afternoon — but the point of the pairing is more literal than it first appears. The people being honored are the ones who, in the course of the job, are most likely to encounter a stray dog on a Norfolk street or to be called to a home where an animal needs help. Putting them on a leash beside an adoptable dog makes that connection visible, and gives the dogs a better shot at being seen by someone who will take them home.
For anyone who cannot adopt, the event is explicitly a recruiting opportunity. Fostering and volunteering information will be on hand, and the raffle and silent auction proceeds support the shelter's medical and adoption programs. The message from organizers is that showing up counts — that a free afternoon at a neighborhood brewery, with a costume contest and a few dogs in capes, is a legitimate way to help.
Heroes and Hounds runs Saturday, October 24, 2026, from 1 to 4 p.m. at Elation Brewing, 5104 Colley Ave., Norfolk. It is free and open to all.