Ark-Valley Humane Society Feline & Fido Calendar Contest: How Voting Works & How to Win

A shelter fundraiser first, a photo contest second

Every dollar spent voting in the Feline & Fido Calendar Contest supports Ark Valley Humane Society directly, since the contest itself is structured as a fundraiser: supporters pay $1 per vote, with a $5 minimum, to back the pet photo they want featured in the shelter's next wall calendar. That distinguishes it sharply from Colorado's business readers'-choice ballots, where casting a vote typically costs nothing.

The current cycle opened September 27, 2026, and the confirmed public voting period runs through 9:00 PM Mountain time on Sunday, October 11, 2026, hosted on the GoGo Photo Contest platform at gogophotocontest.com/avhs. Confirmed editions run 2016 through 2024, and again in 2026, all hosted on that same platform page.

What that table cannot answer is a published category breakdown or any per-supporter voting ceiling beyond the dollar minimum itself; neither is stated on the confirmed page, so confirm on the live ballot each cycle for whatever detail a supporter still needs.

One shelter's own fundraiser, not a citywide business ballot

Unlike a magazine-run readers'-choice program that names businesses across an entire county, the Feline & Fido Calendar Contest answers to one nonprofit organization judging its own entrants' pet photos. Ark Valley Humane Society keeps the whole process, from photo submission through the final calendar, inside its own fundraiser rather than folding it into a broader awards program.

None of those four business ballots shares a judging process, a results page, or an entry fee structure with the Feline & Fido Calendar Contest. A pet photo entered here competes only against other entrants inside Ark Valley Humane Society's own fundraiser, regardless of how any nearby business ballot happens to be run.

Salida, Buena Vista, and the Chaffee County community behind the votes

Ark Valley Humane Society lists a Buena Vista mailing address and serves the wider Chaffee County community centered on Salida, the county's largest town. The shelter's calendar fundraiser draws its supporters from that same stretch of the valley, pet owners and animal-welfare donors who already know the organization through its day-to-day sheltering work.

The confirmed page does not spell out a residency requirement for entrants, so a pet owner outside Chaffee County is not automatically excluded from submitting a photo; confirm on the live ballot each cycle for the current entry rules. What is settled is where the money goes: every $1 vote purchased through gogophotocontest.com/avhs supports the animals currently in Ark Valley Humane Society's own care, whether the household casting that vote lives in Salida, Buena Vista, or simply saw the calendar shared online by someone who does.

That last point matters for a fundraiser built this way. A magazine-run business ballot draws its entrants from wherever a publisher decides its coverage area ends; a shelter's paid-vote fundraiser draws its supporters from wherever the shelter's own community, and the people that community shares the link with, actually reaches. Nothing on the confirmed page narrows that reach to Chaffee County alone, so a Colorado pet owner elsewhere who wants to support Ark Valley Humane Society specifically has no stated reason to hold back from buying a vote.

Backing a photo without overstating what the shelter has published

Because every vote here carries a real $1 cost, genuine supporters willing to pay repeatedly across the September 27 to October 11 window are what actually drives a photo up the standings, more directly than in a free-vote business ballot where a single click costs nothing. Asking friends, family and fellow pet owners to each cast a few paid votes, rather than assuming any shortcut exists, respects both the fundraiser's purpose and the years of trust Ark Valley Humane Society has built running it.

A shelter running a long-standing paid-vote fundraiser has more at stake in protecting that trust than a brand-new contest would, since irregular activity risks the reputation of a program donors already rely on year after year. Buying votes online explains what outside support commonly looks like for a paid-vote fundraiser in this shape, and is buying votes legal is worth a look before committing real money to a program this deep into its own run.