Story and photos by Lisa Carolin
More than 30 people brought their dogs to Veterans Park Saturday (Aug. 8) morning to participate in the 1st Annual Community Dog Walk to show their support of a dog park in Chelsea.
The group paraded their dogs through town behind volunteer Natalie McKenney, who was accompanied by her husband, Casey Jentzen and their dog, a Pug named Clover.
“We’ve gotten support for the dog park from more than 200 people on Facebook,” said McKenney.
Jim Alford, who walked with his Cockapoo Katie, is one of those supporters.
“Let the dogs run and have fun,” he said. “A dog park would let dogs burn off energy and be good for people, too.”
Another proponent of creating a dog park is CeCe Keiser, who walked with her dog Thor, a Doberman.
“The site behind the Water Treatment Plant on McKinley would be perfect,” said Keiser. “There’s a large, clear amount of land, and there’s already some fencing.”
She says that the Water Treatment Plant site is big enough to hold both a small dog park and a large dog park.
“I’m a small dog park advocate,” said Anne Armstrong, who walked with Casper, a West Highland white terrier. “The doggies deserve a place to play, and a dog park is an awesome place to meet people. We go to Ann Arbor but there are so many people around here who have dogs that it would nice to have a park right down the street.”
McKenney says that the subject of a dog park is under review by the Parks and Recreation committee.
It was wonderful to watch the group walking through downtown!