The Martin County Humane Society will celebrate a milestone this weekend when it hosts its 25th Walk for Animals on Saturday.

The event takes place at Cedar Creek Park in Fairmont, with registration at 1 p.m. and the walk at 2 p.m. A free lunch will follow.

Karen Folkers, president of Humane Society, discussed the history of the event and some of the features this year.

“The very first walk, 25 years ago, they started out at Charlotte Park by the mall and then they walked to Ward Park,” she said. “Then they walked all the way around Lake Sisseton and back. We don’t walk that far now.

“We have two choices for lengths; one is a short walk that is probably not any longer than going around a block in town. It’s paved and flat so people with mobility issues or dogs that are small or in poor health don’t have to walk very far. Then we have a long walk where they start on that paved path and then go off into the park.”

This year’s walk also features several vendors, both local and from outside the area.

“We’ll have Petco and PetSmart coming down from Mankato, and the Marina Lodge will be there,” she said. “They want people to know that they’re allowed to bring dogs to the Marina Lodge when they come for meals. Then we have Wee Walk, which is a dog-walking and pet-sitting service in town, along with True Value, Just Fur Fun Grooming and STEP, Inc.”

This year’s speaker is Andrew “Roo” Yori, a K9 Ninja who has competed on the television show American Ninja Warrior.

“He’s a dog advocate and has his own group that raises money to help with rescues,” Folkers said. “He’s adopted two different dogs, and one of them was a dog named Hector who had been in Michael Vick’s fighting ring when he got busted. He trained him and worked with him, and Hector became a certified therapy dog.”

The event also will feature two Humane Society alumni as mascots. They are siblings Eddie and Ellie, who were surrendered as puppies with possible health issues. It was later discovered that Eddie was deaf.

There will be gift bags, games and activities, drawings and a silent auction. Walkers who collect $50 or more will get a free commemorative T-shirt and tickets to enter special prize drawings.

“Our big goal is that this is our biggest fundraiser for the year, and we’re trying to make it a little bigger this year,” Folkers said. “We usually bring in about $5,000, which is probably about the average monthly vet bill. So that’s just kind of where we are budget-wise.

“We also spend most of our money in the community. We buy cat litter from Tractor Supply, we buy food from Walmart, we do all of our vet needs and buy food at Chain of Lakes Pet Hospital. So we keep most of the money that comes in right here in the community.”