Transforming a boring, unusable section of a park to a vibrant space for dogs
By Sean Fitzgerald
This overnight-success story was actually years in the making. The new Bark Park at Shane Kelly Park in the city of
Oviedo, Fla., was the culmination of equal parts hard work, collaboration, and imagination, with a spritz of luck. The long-time (25 years) Recreation & Parks Director Dru D. Boulware had a vision of transforming an otherwise useless space into a vibrant park for visitors and their beloved dogs. It has quickly become the “go-to” spot for Dog Dads and Mutt Moms throughout the community and even the surrounding area.
The location was an unusually shaped area within an existing park, essentially a programing “dead space.”
It had elevation changes with some low and potentially wet areas, it was triangular shaped, it had limited shade, and it wasn’t ideal for a playing surface or a traditional playground. The community is very family-centric and pet-friendly, so if it wasn’t going to work well for two-legged friends, then the decision was made to focus on four-legged ones.
A smaller dog park was constructed about six years before as part of the “new downtown” in Center Lake Park in the Oviedo on the Park development. It immediately became a popular spot and remains so, but the size was far from ideal because it was very limiting. There was clearly an appetite from the community to have something bigger and better. The problem, as often times occurs, was funding. So that’s when staff stepped up and made it all happen.