The Big Woof Festival is coming back to Coconut Grove's Regatta Park on January 16-17, 2027, and this time it's bringing two new partners built for kids: Miami Children's Museum and the YMCA of South Florida. The two-day event, which pairs dock diving and canine stunt shows with pet adoptions and shopping, is adding hands-on learning stations aimed at young dog lovers and their families.
Miami Children's Museum has signed on as the festival's official museum partner, powering what organizers are calling the Kids Zone, according to Miami's Community News. The museum is bringing its brand of learning-through-play to the festival grounds, building hands-on activities and interactive experiences specifically for children drawn to the event's canine attractions.
Carlos Blanco said the festival offers a chance to teach children important lessons about animals while they're having fun, and that the museum can create a space where kids learn to care for and be responsible for animals, per the same report. The museum plans to draw directly from its existing Pet Central exhibit, which teaches children the responsibilities of pet ownership, promotes the adopt-don't-shop philosophy, and introduces kids to careers in veterinary science.
A Museum Built on Hands-On Learning
Deborah Spiegelman said children learn best through exploration, imagination and discovery through play, according to the same account. That philosophy traces back to the museum's roots: Miami Children's Museum was founded in 1983 as the Miami Youth Museum before relocating in September 2003 to its current 56,500-square-foot, 12-gallery facility on Watson Island along the MacArthur Causeway, according to Miami Children's Museum. The facility draws roughly 445,000 visitors annually to its hands-on, bilingual exhibits.
Joining the museum for 2027 is the YMCA of South Florida, which is presenting a new initiative called the Paws & Professions Career Day. The program introduces children to animal-related careers through interactive activities and a career-themed coloring and activity book, while also giving families the chance to meet professionals working in animal-related fields, per the seed report. Together, the museum and the YMCA are aiming to give kids a way to learn through play while exploring potential career paths tied to animal care.
The YMCA of South Florida already serves more than 28,000 children annually through afterschool, out-of-school and summer development programming across Miami-Dade and Broward counties, according to the YMCA of South Florida, with a stated focus on closing academic gaps and introducing youth to career development opportunities.
Two Days of Dogs, Dock Diving and Adoptions
Beyond the new educational programming, the festival itself remains built around two days of experiences for dogs and the people who love them. Attractions include dock diving, live canine performances, corgi and dachshund races, frisbee dogs, a wellness pavilion, shopping and food, and adoption opportunities, per the seed report.
Among the performers expected to return are Disc-Connected K9s, a stunt team founded in 1992 and composed entirely of rescued dogs. The group has produced 27 World Championship finalists across more than 10,000 performances worldwide, according to the Highlands County Fair Association, training shelter dogs in choreographed frisbee routines before placing them in permanent homes.
The festival's charitable backbone remains PAWS4you Rescue, the primary non-profit beneficiary whose proceeds from the event fund rescue efforts, veterinary bills and shelter care, as reported by Time Out. PAWS4you was founded in April 2007 by Carol Caridad and operates a donor-subsidized shelter retreat in southern Miami-Dade County, providing medical care, spay/neuter services and adoption placements for abandoned dogs, according to PAWS4you Rescue.
Why a Waterfront Park in Coconut Grove
Regatta Park, the festival's home at 3500 Pan American Drive, sits along Biscayne Bay at Dinner Key Marina and offers an open event lawn, walking trails and boat ramps, according to the City of Miami. The park regularly hosts community festivals, outdoor concerts and civic gatherings, making it a familiar backdrop for Miami families — it's also where Hoodline previously covered Dwyane Wade's fitness festival debut.
The land carries history beyond its modern role as event space. Regatta Park occupies ground once home to the historic Dinner Key naval base and aviation terminal, which served as a Coast Guard seaplane base and Pan American World Airways terminal in the 1930s before being redeveloped into Miami City Hall, Dinner Key Marina and public parkland, according to GoGuides. Coconut Grove itself is considered Miami's oldest neighborhood, first settled in 1825 and incorporated as an independent city in 1919 before being annexed into the City of Miami in September 1925.
A Local Push Against National Shelter Strain
The festival's expanded educational mission lands against a backdrop of shelter capacity challenges playing out nationally. The ASPCA reported in 2025 that roughly 5.8 million dogs and cats entered U.S. shelters, with 4.2 million adopted, though large dogs face increasingly longer waits before finding homes, according to the ASPCA.
Locally, Miami-Dade County Animal Services has reported a shelter save rate above 90 percent every year since 2015, reaching an overall 92.47 percent save rate while intake exceeded 28,000 animals in 2022, according to Miami-Dade County. The county has said it relies on community adoption events and spay/neuter programs to sustain that benchmark — the kind of public education effort the Big Woof Festival's new Kids Zone and Paws & Professions Career Day are designed to reinforce for the next generation of pet owners.
