Tomorrow, October 26, marks the fifth anniversary of the opening of the Hudson Dog Park. The opening of the dog park, with a ribbon cutting officiated by Mayor Rick Rector, was a joyous event, marking the successful culmination of more than a decade of struggle to make the dog park a reality.
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| Photo: Jonathan Simons |
The park started out with the bare minimum required for a dog park: a big grassy space, fencing, poop bag dispensers, and trash barrels. In the past five years, there have been a number of improvements. The first summer, we brought water to the park.
The next summer, we installed a shade pergola and furnished it with metal benches. That project, which cost about $10,000, was funded in part by a $5,000 grant awarded to the Hudson Dog Park in the PetSafe® Bark for Your Park™ grant competition.
This summer, we added a pool surround so that water sloshing out of the pool wouldn't create mud.
This fall, Hudson Dog Park undertook its biggest and costliest project yet: installing engineered wood fiber in the extensive area where the dogs' great love and enthusiasm for the dog park make it impossible to keep grass growing.
It was the hope that the project would be completed in time for the dog park's fifth anniversary celebration, but snafus in getting materials in a timely fashion, has kept that from happening. This morning, Lance Wheeler created a video documenting the status of the installation on the eve of the anniversary. You can view the video here. (For those who wonder about that great heap of earth that appears several times in the video, in the spring, it will be sculpted into a berm, and trees will be planted on it.)
In the meantime, although the dog park's fifth anniversary cannot be celebrated by the dogs' jubilant return to their favorite section of the dog park, the occasion will not go unobserved. Tomorrow, the anniversary of the Hudson Dog Park's opening day will be celebrated with a Flea Market at the dog park. New and gently used dog gear--toys, sweaters and coats, harnesses and collars, beds and crate liners, carriers and crates, and much more--will be offered for sale at flea market prices. (There's even a robotic vacuum cleaner, because dogs do shed.)
The Hudson Dog Park is situated on land owned by the City of Hudson, but it was built with funds raised by a stalwart and determined group of volunteers. The City of Hudson Department of Public Works mows the lawn, hauls away the trash, and plows the snow in winter, but everything else--from poop bags to major improvements--is funded by the generous donations of dog park supporters and users.
Tomorrow's Flea Market is a fundraiser for the Hudson Dog Park. All items have been donated, and all proceeds will go toward maintaining and improving the dog park.
So, if there are dogs in your life, come to the Hudson Dog Park tomorrow between noon and 4:00 p.m. and buy your loyal companions something they will love. There are items worthy of being gifts, if it's not too early to start your holiday shopping.
The park is located at 121 North Second Street, just north of the intersection with Dock and Mill streets (also known as the Empire State Trail). Dogs who come to the Flea Market will be treated to puppuccinos!
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