Why a home builder is running a pet election

We say we build community

We build houses. About thirty a year, around Fargo. And we say, on our website and in our office and to everyone who’ll listen, that we don’t just build homes — we build community.

That’s an easy thing to say. Every builder says something like it. So this fall we decided to stop saying it and do something instead.

There’s plenty of serious stuff happening in the world. We thought our community could use something delightfully unserious.

Our founding partner is Turtle Mountain Animal Rescue, and every shelter in the valley is welcome:

• Turtle Mountain Animal RescueFounding partner
• Homeward Animal ShelterFargo
• Cats’ Cradle ShelterFargo
• 4 Luv of Dog RescueFargo
• CAAREWest Fargo

So: a pet election

Fargo, West Fargo, Moorhead and Horace each elect their own pet mayor. Then the four winners run against each other for Mayor of the Red River Valley. There’s a gavel. There’s a sash. There’s an inauguration at Red River Rover Days at the Red River Market on October 17, and a real mayor from each city has agreed to hand over the title with a straight face.

Nobody is selling you anything in there. You won’t find a form asking about your housing plans. We’re covering the whole thing because we want to, and because it turns out four cities arguing over whose dog should be in charge is exactly the kind of thing a community is made of.

What we actually believe

People before floorplans.

That’s the whole philosophy, and it’s why the mudroom hook in our homes is lower than you’d expect — because that’s where a kid’s backpack goes. It’s why the island seats five instead of four. It’s why we think a neighbourhood is something you have to actually build, on purpose, and not something that just happens after the drywall goes up.

A pet election is a small, silly, deliberate way of doing that. We hope you’ll take it entirely too seriously.