Animal kingdom members vie for Corrales pet mayor

2025 Corrales Pet Mayor Meet and Greet

Sep 13, 2025

CORRALES — There is one mayoral race that the entire community is excited for, and it has nothing to do with parties, the local and national elections nor anything remotely contentious. Of course, how could a Corrales Pet Mayor race be that way?

That is not to say the competition isn’t fierce this year with all manner of animalia vying for the seat. That much was clear at the pet mayor candidate meet-and-greet Sept. 13 at the Village Mercantile.

Co-chair of the race Cheryl Kemnitz, a Kiwanis member, said this year there are 13 candidates.

“Every candidate enters with the goal to be the mayor, but for runners-up there’s going to be the lieutenant mayor, there’s going to be city clerk and things like that,” she said.

The winners are expected to get bragging rights and have to attend events throughout the year as pet leaders, according to Kemnitz. Each gets a prize from local businesses as well.

“We’re still trying to come up with some other different tasks for them to represent the village,” she added.

This year, there are a variety of pets running for mayor. Of the 13 pets, five are dogs named Prince, Harley, Taz, Riley and Faith. There was a bit of a turf war between the few who showed up to the meet-and-greet, but tails were wagging through it all. The cat community was represented by one named Skywalker, who wasn’t present at Saturday’s event.

The variety came out in the rest including Sweet T the turkey, Billy the goat and two bunnies named Bobo and Flopsy.

This year’s most unusual and perhaps silent candidate is a hedgehog named Norbert. If Norbert wins the race, he would be the first hedgehog mayor.

One other candidate has quite the back story and is looking for people’s hearts and votes in this race. Clover the donkey, now owned by Corrales resident Michael Walker, was rescued and brought to the village for better living.

“The person that owned Clover had 36 females on 50 acres, and so they were pretty feral and she wasn’t feeding them correctly or doing their hooves or anything. So anyways, they set up a rescue for all 36 of the females, and some of them were pregnant, but I didn’t have the experience to take a pregnant one. So we took two females,” he said.

When Clover was rescued, she was “very wild” and overweight from being fed alfalfa. Walker and his family worked with Clover for over a year to get her back into shape and to be more calm.

Clover is a miniature Mediterranean donkey, so she has what Walker called the “Jerusalem Cross” on her back. He feels her demeanor now makes her a prime candidate for mayor. “She’s gotten very calm just from being loved on,” he said.

“I just think she’s so gentle. I mean, you can tell she’s even really good with kids, too, so I feel comfortable with her in the parades, which we do every year, and just getting it around people. She’s not gonna have any problem just being lovey like that.”

Another candidate shared a special talent in education. Teale Adelmann and her teacup pig Apple dressed for the occasion Saturday.

“She gets along with everyone, and she’s rooting for a better tomorrow. That’s her slogan. She is really into nutrition, thinks that all the community members should have access to good nutrition and nap time,” Adelmann said.

Apple has another talent in communication. Like some dogs, she uses talking buttons to communicate with her owner. They also want to use the seat to educate people and break the stigma that all pigs are dirty.

“There’s a lot of misconception like they’re dirty or that they can only be outside, but really, they’re, like, the fourth-smartest animal,” Adelmann added.

Kemnitz is looking forward to the community turnout for the event.

“The village is just such a tight community that we just really want to involve people and the kids,” she said.

She added that the pet mayor election is a way to lift people’s spirits in rough times.

The election is open to anyone to vote in and will continue until the winner is announced in the pet parade Sept. 28, which also happens to be the second day of the Corrales Harvest Festival. Candidates as well as other pets will march along Corrales Road in science fiction costumes. Last year’s theme was “Peanuts.”

To vote, people have to pay at least a dollar but can donate more if they want a specific candidate to win. Kemnitz stated every dollar will go toward the animal services in the village.

“We joke that this election can be bought because it’s all by donation. So if somebody wants to cut a big check to get a candidate to win, that’s definitely welcome,” she said.

The donation goal is $5,000 this year. For information on candidates and voting, visit corralesharvestfestival.com/2025-pet-mayoral-election.