Several thousand residents and out-of-town visitors attended the 26th annual Wienerfest Home County Festival on Saturday, June 27, and Sunday, June 28, 2026.
Now in its second year at the Burford Fairgrounds, the event drew well over a thousand dachshunds and various other dogs to the community.
Wienerfest founder Linda Sonnenburg said she started the festival 26 years ago as a way to meet other dog owners interested in talking about their pets. What started off as a small gathering at Spring Bank Park in London, Ontario, has now formed into a bustling event.
“My dad helped me raise my first wiener dog, so it’s always been my passion. Back then, I would get together with my friends and they would talk about their children, but I didn’t have any myself and I just wanted to talk about my dog,” she said with a laugh. “So I started this 26 years ago in London and it’s grown from a small, 40 people gathering, to having thousands of people and at least a thousand wiener dogs. Because it kept growing, we went from London to Thamesford, to Embro then Pittock and Woodstock, and now we’re here in Burford where we’ll stay. This venue supports us and Burford is just a really lovely community, and we really appreciate the warm welcome.”
When asked what was so special about dachshunds, Sonnenburg couldn’t help but smile.
“They’re just low to the ground, they’re very tenacious and they have a mind of their own. They can be very stubborn and I think it’s their personality that just wins everybody over,” she said. “There’s just something about them that you can’t get enough of, they’re kind of like potato chips, you can’t just have one.”
Throughout the event, visitors roamed the grounds. While some took advantage of shopping from the 130 vendors on site, purchasing new collars, harnesses, treats and fashionable hats for dogs, others checked out the various activities and entertainment taking place.
From the lure course, special abilities races and puppy dashes to the Top-Notch Ween Trick Show, distraction course, contests, an Oscar Mayar photo booth, the inflatable mascot fun run, and the wiener water park, there was no shortage of things to see and do.
The festival also featured a STOMPtastic line dancing show, food vendors, flash tattoos, a hot hot dog tasting contest, a memorial service for passed fur friends, nail trimming and food specialist, and the Wiener and Wheels car show.
“We have all kinds of fun events going on this weekend. Everyone loves the wiener races, and we’ve got the costume contest, the look-alike contest, and the special abilities contest,” said Sonnenburg. “Sunday is going to be really cool too because we have our first annual mascot fun race and hot hot dog contest. We really try to make the whole event fun and enjoyable with different things going on for everybody.”
Meghan Musngi, who travelled from Toronto with her two dachshunds to attend the festival, said it was her first time at the event.
“We’ve been to another wiener dog event in the past, but it wasn’t like this; this festival is huge, we’ve already done three circles around the grounds, and there’s so much stuff to do,” she said. “I like that there’s something for the adults and stuff for the dogs, it’s been really fun. It’s also been really nice to see all the other wiener dogs here. They’re all just so cute.”
While the event was free to attend, organizers were collecting donations at the door, the proceeds of which go towards different animal rescues every year.
“At the end of the day, once we pay the bills, we give back to local rescues that don’t have the manpower to do things on their own,” said Sonnenburg. “There were 25 shih tzus recently found dumped within the fields all around Oxford County and so one of the things we’re going to look into contributing to and help with is the veterinarian care for those dogs.”
The organizer said that overall, the best part of the weekend is seeing people enjoy themselves.
“I love seeing the smiles on people’s faces, it’s just amazing,” she said. “Even our sponsors and vendors like Tom and Roxanne from Raw for Pets, genuinely make me smile. It’s a lot of work to put on this event, but when I come here and see everyone come together, looking around and having a good time, I get recharged.”
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
