Dolly’s Dog Park, located in Ahrens/Paschall Memorial Park behind the South Parking lot on Penrose Street 8th Ave, is currently the only public dog park in Grinnell, Iowa.
The new facility allocates over 60,000 square feet of grass for dogs. The field is split up into four sections, broken up by perimeter fencing.
On its 30th anniversary, students at Grinnell-Newburg High School (GHS) collaborated with Chad Nath, president and CEO of the Ahrens Park Foundation to create the addition.
In the first trimester of the 2023-24 school year, GHS 2024 graduates Maxwell Mintle, Carson Penyich and Ethan Walker worked together as a part of a senior capstone class.
Kevin Hosbond, English language arts teacher, taught this class, which he said is meant to emphasize “being creative rather than consumptive.”
“I feel like [the students] just felt like there was something missing in the community,” said Hosbond.
Under the mentorship of Nath and Hosbond, the three students engaged in researching how to best construct the park and acquiring grant funding to bring the park to fruition. Grinnell College, Grinnell Mutual, Poweshiek County Alliance and individuals collectively donated around $30,000 to form the first iteration of the park.
The namesake for the park is Dolly Ahrens, whose relatives regard as a “known dog-lover,” according to Hosbond.
Until 2022, Poweshiek Animal League Shelter (PALS), a non-profit organization based in Grinnell that provides care for lost and unwanted animals, used to have a public dog park along Interstate 80. It closed due to operating costs beyond their ability to pay, according to a press release by PALS.
Hosbond said that Grinnell dog owners have been self-coordinating “Yappy Hours” at the park to connect with other owners and their dogs on Facebook.
Nath and Hosbond hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony for the dog park on the morning of Tuesday, Oct. 1.
Throughout the week of Sep. 30, The S&B spoke to dog owners and their dogs while using the park:
Over the weekend, Kathy Determan and her granddaughter Kora Henningsen were visiting Grinnell for the College’s softball game. They let their three dogs — Bruce, a three-month-old vizsla, Otis, a beagle, and Hatch, a dachshund, or a weiner dog, according to Henningsen — release some energy before their four-hour drive home to Okoboji, Iowa. This is their second time at the park.
“It’s a really nice feature to have, along with the rest of the facilities. I actually thought they would do a lot more racing and rambunctiousness, but they’ve just been kind of checking out the edges for an escape route, probably. Next time, we have learned we need to bring a toy, like a ball or something for him to play fetch with and stuff. That would make the little guy happy.” — Kathy Determan
Diedra Tompkins brought her energetic rescue dog Wesley, a two-year-old husky German shepherd-Irish setter mix. She adopted him from AHeinz57 Pet Rescue and Transport, based in DeSoto, Iowa. Tompkins, her boyfriend Derek Bowman, and his two children, all attended the park for the first time together.
“I’m just really happy that there’s a big space that’s really close to [Bowman’s] house that we can take him, and he can run. Walking around sometimes just isn’t enough. He needs to run and be free.” — Diedra Tompkins
“I also have a pit bull mix, but I wanted to see how the park was first before letting her come here. She doesn’t necessarily do well with some dogs; it’s a mix. I wanted to see what it was first. My pit bull, her name is Freya. She’s a rescue. I got her when she was two, and she had some previous mannerisms that, still, for five years haven’t really quite worked out too well. But for the most part, she’s good with other dogs, but sometimes she’s just not so.” — Derek Bowman
Fostering a puppy for Paws-N-Claws Iowa based in Newton, Iowa, Kathy Elliott has been trying to bring Ivy, a four-month-old cocker spaniel, to the park almost everyday since she began fostering Ivy a month ago.
“She loves to come out and just walk around. I try to get her off the leash and throw things for, but sometimes, she kind of loses interest. There’s just lots of space and lots of grasshoppers to eat. We’ve met a few [other dogs], but she’s got so much pup in her that some older dogs just aren’t really into her jumping on them. That’s what’s nice about the sectioned off.” — Kathy Elliott
