A community space was given to the four legged friends of Toledo, and Saturday marked the 10-year anniversary of that gift.
Dog owners solidified their support for their loving pets through the creation of the Glass City Dog Park in 2014.
“I was around for this. She was the one who knocked on the all the doors,”” Lucas County Commissioner Pete Gerken said, referring to Tina Yoppolo’s part in the founding of the park.
Legend, as told by Ms. Yoppolo, has it that during an effort to convince her daughter to move back home to Toledo, her daughter retorted, “Toledo doesn't even have a dog park.”
Those words were marching orders for Ms. Yoppolo to organize the support needed to show some of Toledo’s potential.
“This is a unique process that's difficult to replicate,” Mr. Gerken said, and mentioned the bygone controversy over how the land the dog park is now on should be used.
The combination of private sector, philanthropy, nonprofit, city and county government and the building trades came together to make the park, according to Mr. Gerken.
“That's pretty unique,” he said, after listing the cooperative coalition in favor of dogs.
“And somebody asked me this morning, how do you think that happened?” Mr. Gerken said. “That happened because everybody loves dogs.”
An article ran in The Blade about the effort to turn the land into a dog park, and it caught the attention of a major donor, Steve Serchuk, who gave wind to the coalition.
After thanking everyone who helped make the park possible and the 427 members who use the park, Mr. Serchuk recommended thinking about the community as “one big happy pack.”
Park goers who showed up for the commemoration got their fill of cake whether they were human or canine, and also got to participate in games and challenges.
Most everyone in attendance was a regular at the park exhibiting the community of the dogs and dog people.
“We don't have a dog park, so we come all the way down,” said Cheryl Sweeney of Monroe, who makes the half hour trip down to Toledo with her husband and Bernese Mountain Dog, Winston, 4.
“We feel like everyone cheers when he [Winston] comes. Everyone knows him,” she said.
Other heartfelt sentiments were had between friends at the dog park.
“This is my dog's happy place,” said Jon Albain, of South Toledo. Hugging his 3-year-old Shepherd Husky mix named Sarge, Mr. Albain said the park gives Sarge, “the socialization and exercise he needs.” Without this community space he comes to most everyday, Mr. Albain said his dog would be “mopey.”
Ron Pace of Point Place said he’d been taking his Basset Hounds to the park since it opened.
“Everybody is amazing here,” he said. “All the dogs get along and everybody watches out for each other's dogs.”
At the end of the founding story, Ms. Yoppolo shared that her daughter never did move back to Toledo.
But since then Toledo has been put on the map, even being named one of the best cities in the United States for dogs in a 2022 study.
Regardless, Ms. Yoppolo said she was proud of the park, and said, “This was for our community ... it's good thing for our city, an excellent thing.”
Most Popular
Comments / 0