Ahrens Park to add dog park, memorial benches, instruments

July 29, 2024

Grinnellians and their canine friends are already enjoying Dolly’s Dog Park, the new fenced-in dog park being developed in Ahrens Park. The park will soon be installing three memorial benches and a new row of outdoor musical instruments. Additionally, the park’s giving garden is growing vegetables and herbs for everyone, while the park’s fruit trees will soon add their bounty for anyone to harvest.

Chad Nath, executive director of the Ahrens Park Foundation, says, “A lot of people are excited about Dolly’s Dog Park.” An acre of the park at the south end, near a parking lot, has now been fenced in, including a gate, and people and their dog friends are welcome to use it. A garbage can and bags stand inside the park for people to clean up after their dogs.

GHS 2024 graduates Maxwell Mint-le, Carson Penyich, and Ethan Walker created the plan for the dog park as part of their GHS senior capstone project. Nath is now implementing that plan, including using donations from Grinnell College, Grinnell Mutual, Poweshiek County Alliance, and individuals toward the $30,000 cost.

Nath explains that the one-acre park area is divided by fencing into four sections. Those entering through the gate come into a long section, perfect for throwing a ball for a dog to chase. The other three sections are for small, medium, and large dogs, and each will eventually have structures for that size of dog to practice agility.

During the next several weeks, Ahrens Park will install three memorial benches, starting with the concrete on which the benches will rest. One bench will be in memory of the late Bill Mason, an employee of the park, and will be located adjacent to the soccer fields near the concession stand.
Another bench, in memory of the late Connie Carlson, will be located along the walking path she so often walked with her husband, Rod, on the side by the baseball and softball fields. The third bench will be in memory of the late Tucker Beck and will be adjacent to the soccer fields the youngster so loved, on the side toward Penrose.

Also coming soon to Ahrens Park, according to Nath, are more outdoor musical instruments. These will join the row of instruments by the big flagpole south of the early learning center and shelter, and east of the playground for younger kids. The new instruments, Nath says, are high-quality products coming from a manufacturer in Europe. They will include a xylophone, a pedal drum, a wind pipe, and four flowers. The flowers will be at four different heights, come with mallets, and are tuned to be in pitch with one another, Nath notes.

Nath adds that the park’s giving garden is producing well, saying with a laugh that all the kohlrabi has already been picked and eaten. He predicts that “there will be a lot of tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers soon.” A separate all-herb garden has been planted by the foundation building, with basil, thyme, rosemary, cilantro, and chives. Everyone is welcome to walk in and pick from both gardens to take home and eat.

The park has also planted fruit trees spread throughout the park, which Nath says are ripening well and from which picking can soon start. Park visitors can find apple trees by the soccer fields, cherry and plum trees by Dolly’s Garden behind the foundation building, and peach and fig trees, as well as elderberry bushes.

The ambitious plan for an outdoor natural learning environment is still in the planning and design stage, Nath continues, intended for the space west of the Ahrens Family Center. Plans include an amphitheater and separate areas for infants, toddlers, and older children, with both hard and soft surfaces, native plantings, and plantings producing food to attract birds and squirrels. He notes that the largest expense for creating the learning environment will be grading and landscaping, and funds are still being gathered so the work can start in 2025.

The park remains busy, Nath says, already hosting successful baseball, softball, and soccer seasons this year and looking forward to a busy flag football season, Kites over Grinnell in late September, and the Trunk or Treat event in late October.
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Courtesy of the Grinnell Herald Register

Interested in helping us enhance Dolly’s Dog Park? Your donation will make tails wag even more with additions such as exercise and obstacle courses!