April 4, 2007


Dana Hyde, owner of Metal & Mud, made the gate for Sequim’s new dog park.  A dog lover, she offered up her services this past fall, when she heard that the Dog Park Pals’ idea would become a reality. Photo by Avani Nadkarni

A wish come true for Pals and their pals 

Sequim’s new dog park looks forward to its grand “leash-cutting”

by Avani Nadkarni
Staff Writer

A year after a group of dog-loving citizens had a vision to create an area where their canine companies could run free, the dream is coming true.

The Sequim Dog Park Pals, who according to vice-president Ruth Marcus, are “peninsula dog owners who want an off-leash dog park,” wrote letters to newspapers, the Sequim City Council, and Mayor Walt Schubert, in an “energized” effort to get a park in the city. They got a petition signed, and made a presentation to Sequim City Council last year. The council voted for it, and finally “we were off and running” said Marcus.

The Pals, which lists seven board members approximately 200 general members in Sequim and its outlying areas, is “a total citizens grassroots group,” according to Marcus, who also said that they had to handle the planning and fundraising for the park.

Marcus, who owns a golden retriever, calls Pals “a total citizens grassroots group,” and said that they had to handle the planning and fundraising for the park.
   
The Pals’ hard work and persistence will pay off April 7, during the “leash cutting” of Sequim Dog Park, which Schubert and Pals president David Brown will be a part of.

At the entrance to the dog park stands an approximately 4-foot-tall metal gate with an excited-looking dog perched on top, all carefully planned and produced by Hyde, who “draws” on metal with a machine that uses a mixture of air compression and electricity. 

“I needed to make sure that whatever I was making wouldn’t be dangerous … but be decorative and interesting too,” said Hyde, who also said she received no creative restrictions from the Pals.

Her vision is a gate with a collage of seven different dogs on it, including the centerpiece of two dogs frolicking in the grass.

“I wanted it to be attractive and functional,” she said. “Not a boring cyclone gate.”

Hyde installed the gate on Monday in preparation for the grand opening of the park.

The event, which will be from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on April 7, will include such events as dancing dogs, vaccinations and microchipping done by Sequim veterinarian Linda Allen, owner of  Pacific Northwest Veterinary Hospital, as well as a hot dog cart and other refreshments.
    

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