PORT ANGELES — Roughly four dozen dog enthusiasts turned out for the grand opening of the North Olympic Peninsula’s newest off-leash dog park.
Park users of the canine variety were also well-represented at the Friday afternoon celebration honoring the numerous volunteers who helped make the Port Angeles Off-Leash Dog Park, off West Lauridsen Boulevard just east of William R. Fairchild International Airport, a reality.
Port Angeles Mayor Cherie Kidd and Richard Bonine, the city’s recreational services manager, spoke in turn to the assembled crowd amid cheers of appreciate and woofs of excitement.
“We are here for one reason, and one reason only: to honor the volunteers that made this happen,” Bonine said.
Extensive list
The list of Port Angeles residents responsible for the 1.85-acre park, with separate fenced-off sections for both small and large dogs, was extensive and included representatives of the Olympic Peninsula Humane Society and both the Rotary Club of Port Angeles and the Nor’wester Rotary Club.
Present also were members of the Citizen Off-Leash Dog Park Committee, which was formed to handle the fundraising and fence installation for the park.
Bob Morgenstern, chairman of the citizens’ committee, was on hand for the grand opening with Captain, his 3-year-old Newfoundland.
Morgenstern said the planning for the park started with meetings in coffee shops and downtown meet-ups with the committee members — dogs included, of course — and eventually evolved into more formal arrangements with Bonine.
“With Richard [Bonine’s] tremendous help, we got it,” Morgenstern said.
The committee started fundraising in earnest for the park about a year and a half ago, with the fence and pipe installed during the past few months.
The city of Port Angeles kicked in about $10,000 for the fence, while the committee raised roughly $8,000 for construction-related costs, Bonine said.
Morgenstern also was looking to the future as he stood in the large dog area of the park, his shaggy bear of a Newfoundand making friends with just about anyone he could find.
Future steps
Morgenstern said the next steps for the park will be throwing down grass seed to make the grounds look fuller and greener.
He said he hopes users of the park will adopt it as their own and come up with their own ideas on how it can be improved.
“I find myself standing here just gazing at it,” Morgenstern said when asked how he feels about the park finally coming to fruition.
John and Patty Ford were two more of the slew of volunteers who helped bring the dog park from idea to reality.
John Ford said he helped organize the various raffles the dog park citizens’ committee used to help raise funds for the fence and, once the fences were purchased, also helped install them.
Patty Ford said she is happy with the way the park turned out, pointing out the area’s natural feel, with the large dog portion of the park encompassing a gently sloping rise crowned with a small stand of trees.
Ford said she prefers these surroundings to the manicured lawns of the off-leash dog park in Sequim, though she said she thinks both are nice in their own way.
Ford said she and her husband nearly always stopped by the Sequim dog park if they were in the city with Amber, their 2-year-old boxer/hound mix, though they didn’t visit Sequim just to go to the dog park.
Patty Ford said the Port Angeles park’s proximity to their house makes her all the more glad it’s been completed.
“Just a seven-minute drive, and we’re here,” Ford said.
The 1.7-acre Sequim Dog Park opened in 2007 and was until recently the only off-leash dog park on the Peninsula.
The Sequim Dog Park lies east of the Guy Cole Convention Center at Carrie Blake Park, 202 N. Blake Ave.
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Reporter Jeremy Schwartz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jschwartz@peninsuladailynews.com.
