Officials from the city and Simmons Foods celebrated the grand opening of the Tails and Trails Dog Park with the community on Saturday morning.
The two-acre facility, located at the west end of Bob Henry Park, features three fenced in areas where dogs can play off leash, including an area for large dogs, an area for small dogs and an area for an agility course. It also has a pavilion, dog watering stations and sidewalks, and is conveniently located along Siloam Springs' trail system, allowing easy access for people walking their dogs.
The grand opening ceremony was combined with Main Street Siloam Springs Dog Days of Downtown festival. A large crowd of dogs and people paraded from the Farmers Market to the new dog park for a ribbon cutting and grand opening ceremony. After the ceremony, dogs and their owners flooded into the fenced areas to play.
The dog park is the result of a collaboration between a team of volunteers with Simmons Foods and city officials, according to the Simmons Foods website. Renae Sassnett, executive assistant to the executive vice president and chief financial officer of Simmons Foods and a leader on the dog park committee, cut the ribbon with the help of Ken Krafft, who was also very involved in the dog park committee, and Mayor John Turner.
"I am thrilled about the addition of Tails and Trails Dog Park to our community and hope pet families will enjoy having this dedicated space to spend quality time with their dogs," said Sassnett. "I would like to extend a special thanks to the city, my Simmons team and all the volunteers who worked together to make this dream a reality."
Sassnett and Krafft approached the city with the idea of the dog park several years ago and in August of 2015, city board members approved a resolution supporting the park, according to a May 6 article in the Herald-Leader. In December, the city received a $50,000 matching grant from the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism for fencing. Bids for fencing came in at $97,851. The city was responsible for for the remaining $48,926 of fencing costs as well as the extension of a one-inch water line from the skate park to the new dog park.
Simmons Foods, which is primarily known as a poultry company but also produces pet food and treats, provided a cash grant of $163,223 for the remainder of construction costs last spring. The city approved a contract with Flintco Construction for the park in the same amount and a groundbreaking ceremony was held on May 7.
"We're happy and thrilled you all are here to help us celebrate the ribbon cutting for Tails and Trails Dog Park," Turner said. "It's been a long time coming and there's been a lot of effort put into this. We want to especially thank Simmons Foods for continuing to support and invest in this community. This is just another example of private and public partnerships that Siloam Springs is so blessed to have. We've got businesses, and corporations and people that want to support, that are just willing to step up to the table and take care of it."
General News on 09/19/2018