EASTHAMPTON — As the Friends of the Easthampton Dog Park continue efforts in raising funds for a future dog park to be put inside of Nonotuck Park, the group will be hosting a Spaghetti Dinner Fundraiser on Wednesday, Sept. 10 from 4-7 p.m., at the American Legion Hall in Easthampton.
For a $12 entry, attendees can support the ongoing effort to bring a dog park to the city while enjoying a spaghetti dinner, salad, Italian and garlic bread, coffee and tea.
The friends invites the public and fellow dog lovers to join for the dinner and support the raising of the necessary funds to build the dog park.
“We have a couple of members who have suggested more than once that we should do something open to the public, and a couple of our members have family members who are part of the American Legion and they suggested why don’t we just do a spaghetti dinner fundraiser there,” explained Friends of Easthampton Dog Park President Joan Kurtz. “This is the first time that we’re actually asking for financial support at an event. Always, it’s been ‘please make a donation or buy a T-shirt,’ but this is one where we hope to raise a sizable amount of money to help apply to specifically for the CPA so we will know after this event how much more money we can match with whatever funds we will be trying to get.”
To RSVP for the event, email easthamptondogpark@gmail.com by Sept. 3.
Earlier this year, the Friends of the Easthampton Dog Park was denied its request for $31,000 in Community Preservation Act funding to begin work at the future site of the dog park within Nonotuck Park. The city’s Parks and Recreation Committee denied the request during an April 9 meeting.
Kurtz explained the request was denied by Parks and Recreation due to the project not having enough funding in order to complete it in one effort. Kurtz added Parks and Rec. Director John Mason told them the project should be coming to the CPA packaged so all the work can be completed and not separated into parts because of finances. Due to the project being set for Nonotuck Park, the Parks and Rec. Committee must approve it before the proposal can move to the CPA committee for a funding request.
“As he had said at the Park and Rec. Commission meeting where he denied it, he does not want to start doing any sort of work on the designated area if we can’t follow through with the actual construction,” said Kurtz.
Kurtz said plans are for the Friends to get Parks and Rec. approval in the coming weeks and to then submit a new grant application to the CPA Committee by Oct. 2. Members of the Friends of the Easthampton Dog Park have been meeting with Mason and Parks and Rec. in the lead up to make sure they are covering their bases this time before the CPA committee can review the request.
“We had a very nice instructive meeting with them, and they explained the whole process which we were unaware of before. They clarified some things and now we have a better handle of how we’re going to apply,” said Kurtz. “We will meet again prior to the October CPA to make sure we did everything the right way.”
In the meantime, fundraising efforts continue for the group to establish more funds for the project. Part of this effort includes the Friend’s “Sponsorship Solicitation” option where those who fill out the form can pledge financial assistance for the new park through donations or sponsoring additions to the park.
Through the Sponsorship Solicitation, those who get involved will have a few options of donating toward the project including a dog waste station, engravings in the park, and a pet fountain and rinse station. The “Top Dog Sponsorship” includes a commitment of $2,500 or more and includes naming rights of a dog park feature of amenity, being listed as a sponsor or donor signage, special recognition at the groundbreaking and ribbon cutting, and recognition on the park’s website and social media as “Top Dog.”
Other levels of pledge include a $1,000 pledge, $500 and $250. Kurtz said to this point, through the sponsorship offerings, they have had three waste stations claimed, two of six benches claimed and one of the pet water fountains claimed. She added that the project was originally estimated to cost over $300,000, but with growing sponsors and donations, the estimated cost is now down closer to $220,000.
“We’re going to keep contacting local businesses and see if they’d like to sponsor some of those items for the dog park,” Kurtz said.
Kurtz added the whole idea of bringing a dog park to the city is to give the community its own much needed space for dogs.
“Considering the fact that surrounding cities and towns have dog parks — Amherst has one, South Hadley has one, Holyoke has one, Northampton is working on one, Agawam has one — I mean all the surrounding cities and towns have one, so, I and a lot of members in the friend’s group are tired of driving elsewhere and funding them in donations. We should have one here within our park,” said Kurtz.
Speaking of the over 400 members joined on the Friends of Easthampton Dog Park’s emailing list Kurtz added, “They too would like a location within the city and it was decided that Nonotuck Park was the ideal place where everybody presently walks their dog, they might as well have a location within the park where those people who can’t let their dog off a leash. This is the spot for it. There’s also people who don’t have the funds or wherewithal to drive to the surrounding dog parks, but they do walk to Nonotuck and it’s a city park so putting a city dog park within it was the ideal and logical way to go.”
To donate and get involved, or for more information on the Friends of the Easthampton Dog Park and its mission, visit its Facebook page or easthamptondogpark.org.
Kurtz shared that she hopes the community comes out to support the continued efforts and added the support of the people may be more important than ever at this point due to funding opportunities drying up.
“The problem that we’re really facing is that there are no more grants for dog parks — I should say no grants really anywhere. There is no funding. Everything has dried up both with what’s going on in our country and just in general with inflation, so we are having a hard time getting that one particular major booster or sponsor,” Kurtz explained. “We have no control or knowledge over that. Our hope is we’re going to present to the CPA committee some funding. The bottom line will be we hope to raise enough money to build it. If we can’t raise it within the fiscal year, we will then send it back to the CPA. We’re not spending it, we’d just be asking them to hold it while we continue to raise funds. We’re hopefully optimistic and while this may not happen as soon as we would like, we will continue to work.”
