Residents are invited to join city officials, Main Street Siloam Springs and Simmons Foods at Bob Henry Park on Saturday morning to celebrate the grand opening of the Tails and Trails Dog Park.
The opening will be part of the Main Street festival previously known as "Dog Days of Summer," but is being referred to as "Dog Days of Downtown" this year, said Abby Trinidad, event coordinator for Main Street Siloam. The morning's festivities will begin at the downtown farmers market at 9:30 a.m., where attendees will have a chance to mingle.
At 9:45 a.m. a parade of dogs will depart the farmers market with their owners, make their way through Bob Henry Park and end at the west end of the park where the dog park is located. The parade will be brief, as the grand opening will take place at 10 a.m., where Renae Sasnett will give a speech. Sasnett is the executive assistant to the executive vice president and chief financial officer of Simmons Foods and helped lead the charge in making the park a reality, said Holland Hayden, city communications director.
Following Sasnett's speech, the city is offering face painting, balloon twisting and a D.J. for kids, Hayden said. There will also be a dog trick contest and gift bags for the first 70 people to show up.
The completion of the dog park is long awaited, as the city's board of directors voted in favor of a resolution supporting the project during an August 2015 meeting, according to a city staff report. In January 2018, city staff and representatives of Simmons Foods convened to gather the information needed to put the project out to bid.
In March 2018, bids were sent out with the lowest coming back from Flintco Construction in the amount of $163,223. During their May 1 meeting, the board accepted a grant from Simmons Foods in that amount, groundbreaking on the project was held shortly thereafter, followed by construction all summer long, resulting in Saturday's grand opening.
The purpose of the park is to allow a space for dogs to roam and play, free of their leashes within fenced-in areas. Other features of the park will include a pavilion where dog-owners can sit, new sidewalks and dog-watering stations.
General News on 09/12/2018