Tentative opening date for Breese Dog Park is May 1

Breese Dog Park    Alderman Jason Davinroy announced during the April 7 Breese City Council meeting that the tentative opening date for the Breese Dog Park will be Friday, May 1.
    The dog park is located at the Breese Soccer Park on Holy Cross Lane north of town.
    The opening date is dependent on the weather. The park is slated to be open at sunrise.
    The dog park will be run by the City of Breese and it falls under the Parks Department jurisdiction.
    "We are very excited to have the dog park open and we think it will be great for the community," said Walker Mondt, who was one of the driving forces of getting the dog park in Breese.
    J-Square Fence LLC completed the fencing for the park in early January. The park includes water spigots. A padlock was placed on the dog park to keep the dogs out during the winter and early spring months to allow the dirt areas time to grow grass for the spring.
    Davinroy said he feels like the area will be ready for the May 1 opening.
    The project has been nearly three years in the making. Nearly $30,000 was raised through dog walks, golf scrambles, pooch playoffs, Super Bowl square boards, barks and brews bar hops, trivia nights, and business donation days.
    Mondt said people are getting dogs and they are becoming part of the family. He said a dog park is a place in the community where people can get together and do things.
    "At a human level, this is just a place in the community where people can get together," Mondt said. "At a utility level, some people might want to have dogs but have small yards. This would allow them a place to have a dog in their life if they want it."
    There are dog parks in Carlyle and Aviston and Mondt said the dog park in Breese will be similar to Aviston's dog park. Highland also has a dog park with many interactive toys for dogs.
    The idea for the dog park started in 2023.
    A contingent of people, headed by Mondt, attended the Breese City Council meeting in August 2023, trying to get a dog park established in the city.
    On April 16, 2024, the Breese City Council unanimously voted to locate the Breese Dog Park at Breese Soccer Park.
    They were looking at either putting the dog park at the soccer park off Holy Cross Lane or at the northwest corner of Northside Park by Hannah's Playground. At that time, the city felt like the best location for the dog park was at the soccer park.
    Abby Niemeyer-Brauer and Mondt co-chaired the Breese Dog Park committee.
    "We're so excited to finally see everything come together and watch the gates open," Niemeyer-Brauer said. "We truly couldn't have done it without the incredible support from our community at all of our events, and we definitely couldn't have completed it without the generosity of our local businesses. Everyone really came together to make this happen."
    Mondt said the idea for the dog park actually started in 2017 when Boy Scout Logan Van Ness wanted to do a dog park for his Eagle Scout project. He brought the idea to Breese City Council, but was unable to get the dog park idea going.
    Mondt said a lot of Van Ness' ideas were starting points for Mondt when they brought the dog park idea up the second time in 2023.