An almost Eagle Scout’s tale of building a dog park

Planning for a dog park began in November of 2020, when Town Supervisor Tony Cardone and Senior Center Director Ann Marie Morris first referred me to the Town of Monroe Senior Center property as a potential location for a new dog park for the Town of Monroe. While there is an existing dog park in Monroe, it is difficult to find as it is in an unfavorable location and has no added amenities such as toys and benches. rendering it no more than an empty space enclosed by a fence. The new dog park would be more centered in the Town of Monroe and contain all the necessary features of a quality park such as signs, lighting, mulch flooring, toys, benches, and more.

After getting approved by the Monroe Town Board on March 15, 2021, my work was cut out for me, as I was immediately faced with raising the thousands of dollars that I would need to purchase the materials, supplies, and machine rentals that I would need to complete the park. On June 12, 2021, I held the first ever Monroe Dog-Walkathon at Crane Park. It was a great fundraiser event that sourced donations from dozens of individuals and brought the community of Monroe dog lovers for a day of fun outdoors with their pets.

Additional fundraisers such as an event with local restaurant The Tequila Grille as well as an adopt-a-bench program enabled me to procure the needed funds to cover the dog park expenses. Of course, it was truly the generosity of our Town and the members of its community that made this project possible with their continued support.

On June 18th, 2021, myself and my team of volunteers began work on the park itself. Only in this past week in preparation for the grand opening on Sunday would the work be completed. Every day on the worksite was both a new challenge to overcome and a new opportunity for myself and the scouts of Troop 440 to do something great for our community. Whether it was moving two-hundred yards of mulch, woodworking, or installing four-hundred feet of fencing, I could always rely on help from my family, friends, and fellow boy scouts.

Before we knew it, we had spent over twenty work days constructing the park, which had amounted to well over 1,300 hours of volunteer labor between myself and the dozens of people who helped make this park a reality. It is an honor to finally announce that the park has been completed and that we get to open it this Sunday.

The new park is located on the same property as the Town of Monroe Senior Center, at 101 Mine Rd past the parking lot. It features approximately 12,000 square feet of space with a consistent six-inch deep layer of mulch across the entire park as well as a five foot tall black chain-link fence surrounding the park. In addition, it contains all the necessary amenities to qualify it as a great and complete dog park.

The opening ceremony will be this Sunday, May 15, at 101 Mine Rd (the dog park site) at 10am. Feel free to bring your dogs, given you have obtained a dog license. If you have not, no worries, bring proof of your dog’s rabies shots and spaying/neutering and Monroe Town Clerk Valerie Bitzer will be there to provide licenses for ten dollars.