History

The idea for Freedom Bark Park was sparked when Heather Hamilton approached the Lowell Park Board in March of 2007 to request that leashed dogs be allowed in parks or some other designated area.  Heather's request was tabled for further study but later denied.  Then, Roberta Thomas, who has enjoyed dog parks in other communities and states, joined the Lowell Park Board in January of 2008 and was asked to form a committee to study the possibility of building a dog park in town.  Roberta was informed of Heather's previous dog-friendly park request and contacted her to assist with the formation of the original committee.  Heather complied a list of local pet-related businesses and Roberta made the calls to seek their involvement.  The following people agreed to join the Freedom Bark Park Committee: Dr. Brian Norton of Bardens Animal Clinic, Dr. Rebecca Salter of Hebron Animal Hospital, Lynn Vasko of Velvet Bow Dog Grooming, Barbara Goetz of Auntie Barbara's Bed Bath and Biscuit, Sherry Harding the President of Paw Power Blues Agility Club, Karen Stein of Happy Tails Dog Grooming, and Heather Hamilton creator of the Lap Dogs a small dog social and educational club for small dogs under 20 pounds.  Roberta is the representative from the Park Board and has been a dog lover all of her life.

The first two tasks at hand were to determine how we would raise the money and where to obtain the land for the dog park.  Freedom Park was once a former farm property turned 114 acres park with land still available, so we decided to approach their committee to ask for some land to build a dog park.  In doing so we prepared a presentation explaining why a dog park would benefit our community, the dogs and people.  We also explained liabilities and what our committee was prepared to do: raise money, build the park and maintain it.  Roberta has a friend who donated a paid-up life insurance policy to the Park Department 20 years ago, and in discussing the plan for the park, this benefactor suggested the policy be cashed in now and used as seed money for the dog park.  So we had our facts in order, the money available, and now we just needed the land.  We presented to both the Park Board and Freedom Park Committee in May of 2008, and by the next month were were granted our request and given 5 acres to begin our project.  We then located a landscaping designer from Gardens on the Prairie in Lowell, who is also a dog lover, and she created the dog park's landscape design.  We also located another Lowell resident who is a design engineer that drew up our plan and worked in tandem with the landscape designer.  Ultimately we ended up with a plan that was impressive and quickly accepted by the Freedom Park Committee.

Because the land hadn't been used for a while, our committee decided to have a local farmer till the soil and we planted grass seed.  We decided as a committee, and encouraged by Barbara Goetz to "go green," to build a solar well for water which led into many other "green" ideas such as recycled rubber mulch, road grindings and bio degradable waste bags.  Hardings Inc. provided all of the equipment we needed to move the earth.  A Local 150 operator cut an access road and parking lot for the park.  Farm Fencing educated us on the value of proper fencing to last a lifetime and then gave us a good deal on quality fencing.  The local lumber yard worked with our shelter plans and also gave us discounts for lumber and pavers for the shelters.  Roberta chased down road crews until she could get road millings to place on our parking lot and when the Park Board and Freedom Park Committee saw what we were doing, and the road to our park was the one in their original design plan for the park, they agreed to pay for the gravel for the road.  A local concrete business donated a culvert as a play tunnel for the dogs.  We conducted a fund-raiser for landscaping called "Help Us Paint our Landscape" and we raised the money for trees, shrubs and perennials.  The Hylek family, who lost their mother in 2007, are great dog lovers, and they came forward offering to raise the money to purchase the landscaping to beautify the small dog park, and the small dog park is lovingly dedicated to the memory of Mary Hylek.
 
With the inception of the dog park idea in March to the Grand Opening in October, we completed the dog park project in about 8 months.  The Grand Opening Celebration Event was October 18, 2008 with over 400 people and their dogs in attendance.  One of our spoken goals was to be #1 so this year our dog park won Dog Fancy Magazine's America's Best Dog Park 2009 which is an annual contest held by Dog Fancy magazine.  Many people nominated our dog park and in late March we were told Freedom Bark Park was chosen as the 2009 winner!  The reasons Freedom Bark Park won is due to the community's spirit in which it was built with over 2,700 hours of volunteer time, no tax payer money, and "going green."  While other dog parks in America have many exciting features, Freedom Bark Park ultimately stands out as a dog park built in the Spirit of America!