Oak Forest Puts Another Paw Forward for the Canine Kind
The Bark for a Park committee held its second fundraiser for an Oak Forest Dog Park at Oak Forest Community Center, Wednesday, Nov. 2.
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The Oak Forest community proved it's not too ruff to show its support for a dog park.
The Bark for a Park committee and its leader Ald. Laura Clemons (1st Ward) hosted a Nov. 2 all-you-can-eat spaghetti dinner to raise funds for Oak Forest's own dog park.
Volunteers served dinner and raffled off prizes throughout the night at the Oak Forest Community Center. For a $10 ticket, guests received: salad, all-you-can-eat pasta, garlic bread, dessert and soft drinks or water.
The event brought in $1,170 from the raffle baskets and dog crate prize. Roughly 110 people bought tickets at the door ($1,100), and pre-event sales at about $1,190. Clemons estimates they served about 300 people total.
"We were thrilled to see so many families and their adorable children attend," Clemons said. "Everyone seemed to have a great time."
All profits from this event will be used for the creation of a dog park in Oak Forest. The proposed park, which could have benches, doggy bag stations and a water fountain or two, would cost an estimated $10,000.
If built, the two-acre dog park at 158th Street and Central Avenue will have a fence running from a gated north entrance, bordering a public skate park, to a gated south entrance, bordering the back entrance of Food 4 Less grocery. Several other locations are also being considered for the park, Clemons said.
Depending on how much funding the community can raise from residents and sponsors, Clemons said at a previous meeting, it could take a day, a week or six months to begin construction for the new park.
Check back with Patch for updates on how much money the event raised.
In This article
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City of Oak Forest
15440 Central Ave, Oak Forest, IL -
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Oak Forest Community Center
15501 Kilpatrick Ave, Oak Forest, IL -
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Food 4 Less
5556 159th St, Oak Forest, IL
Erin
2:17 pm on Thursday, November 3, 2011
Another great fundraiser for the park. It was awesome and so many people came out to support the cause, thank you to everyone who played a part!
Veruka Salt
12:12 am on Friday, November 4, 2011
We have been asking for years for a dog park and always thought Oak Forest was not dog friendly. We run two organizations in the area which have vet visits to teach about socialization, training fundraisers and pet first aid in the area and we had reserved monthly space (pre paid) with the park district two years ago. We even insured the event. On the day it was due to run (less than one hour before) we were told the village cancelled it because they didn't want the liability. So we never saw any support for dog friendly groups. Had we known about this event, we would have further advertised it and ensured all the rescue/foster/animal groups supported it. Which makes sense because in all the years we've lived in the area, we have never received anything from the village (park district items, library, etc.) although we've asked numerous times to be added to the list (though somehow the water bill, and sticker bills make it to our home). Oak Forest needs to get its act together and send publications to all tax payers in its district - had we known about this we would have participated.
Erin
8:06 am on Friday, November 4, 2011
Veruka,
I am so sorry you did not know about the fundraiser for this great cause! Just to give you a bit of background this is really a grassroots effort and all funding is via fundraisers/private donations. Send an e-mail to Laura Clemons at lclemons@oak-forest.org and she will make sure you are added to the email list for the dog park. Although we do have the support of the village this is not a village project. No taxpayer money is involved and through the hard work of volunteers we are trying our best to make this a reality and hopefully breakground by Spring. I know that we will be having another fundraiser at the begining of next year but do not know the dates, etc. but Laura can get you all the information. We would love for your support and welcome all to be a part of this effort, we need all the help we can get!
Lauren Traut
10:50 am on Friday, November 4, 2011
Hi, Veruka,
I'm sorry you didn't know about the event, and I understand you're disappointed you missed it.
Can I make a suggestion? Bookmark Oak Forest Patch, and check back frequently. We've been following the dog park process from the very first meeting, and we plan to continue. Also, you can find Bark for a Park on Facebook (if you're a user), where the committee publishes notice of each fundraiser, photos of the events, and more great information!
Thanks for reading, and I hope you'll let OF Patch help keep you informed.
:)
Lauren Traut
Editor,
Oak Forest Patch