K9COLA News
Current Status Cheyenne Park: OPEN (05/30/10) |
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05/28/10: The City of Cedar Rapids will be expanding the area available to dog owners and their canine friends, possibly as soon as this holiday weekend! The city has let us know they are going to open a section of Cheyenne Park that has been closed since the 2008 Flood, greatly expanding the usable space for all dog park users! A section of the former main park will be open, possibly as soon as this weekend. They are going to open a section of the existing training yard fence (the currently usable space), and connect it to temporary fencing that will expand the current area considerably until final repairs are done later this summer. The city has lined up staff to mow and erect the fence and are trying to do their best to have it open soon. The area will spread to the southwest and encompass the sitting shelter. This area did not get the heavy sand deposits, so a few mowings should render it back to decent turf for the users.
A burn is not possible this late because the growth stage that the grass is currently in would damage the turf and leave black for quite some time. The city will cut at about 6″ and then bring it down with successive cuts to be the same as the existing area. Please take a few moments to call (319-286-5731) or email (recreation@cedar-rapids.org) the Parks Department and thank them for continuing to think about dog parks as they work to renovate and reestablish Cedar Rapids’ recreation areas since the flood. We are glad they know this area is important to us. Visit us on Facebook (facebook.com/k9cola) or at our website (k9cola.org) for updates and information, and be sure to subscribe to our electronic newsletter! Have a good holiday weekend, and we’ll see you at the park! |
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12/02/09: At the volunteer appreciation dinner, the Cedar Rapids Kennel Association (CRKA) presented a check for $1,000 to K9COLA to be used in development of the new off-leash park at Squaw Creek! Please join us in thanking CRKA for their generosity! |
10/10/09: New park plans available to review:
All Trails in Squaw Creek Map (park near Gardner Golf Course)
Off-Leash Park Site Plan
Off-Leash Park Site Plan Enlargement
09/14/09: Become a Fan of K9COLA @ Facebook and get updates FAST!
09/11/09: We had 1178 people come through our gate for K9Splash! 2009, and they brought with them over 600 dogs! This doesn't include the families that watched our event from the outside the fence. The event brought in almost $5500 for K9COLA and the City of Cedar Rapids Parks and Recreation Department. Thanks to everyone who helped make the event a success by volunteering and participating! You can visit our now-archived swim page for a great testimonial from a participant. K9COLA photo archives are now available at our Flickr page -- there are loads of good photos from volunteers and participants to browse!
08/31/09: The 4th Annual K9Splash! dog swim at Bever Park Pool was a wonderful success! Stay tuned for final counts and stats, but in the meantime, please enjoy the fabulous photographs taken by our two professional photographers; these are definitely worth looking at, what great shots! All are available for purchase and we hope you will buy a bunch to support their efforts and time with us.
Jeff Banaszek's photos from Saturday 8/22/09:
www.Go-Photo.Net at SmugMug
Jeff Banaszek's photos from Sunday 8/23/09:
www.Go-Photo.Net at SmugMug
Carolin Fennern's photos from the weekend:
Primarily Design & Photography at SmugMug
07/20/09: We are lucky to have former Cheyenne off-leash park user Denise Clark volunteer to do the design of the new off-leash area in Squaw Creek Park. She has a first draft of the park layout done and will be meeting shortly with Steve Krug, a landscape architect with the city, and Steve Sandstrom, K9COLA Site Coordinator, to share the initial plan. When the design is finalized, the bidding process can start. Once that happens we will have a better timeline for when the new park may open. We have a long way to go but things are progressing. We are really looking forward to our dogs running in the new park. We all need to thank our Parks Department and all the people who are working hard to get the new park going. We think we will end up with a very nice off-leash park, and we will try to keep everyone updated as we progress.
04/09/09: Despite last year's tragedy with the flood, the Cheyenne Park Off-Leash Area placed among Dog Fancy Magazine' s Top 10 Best Dog Parks in America! Cheyenne Park won in the category of "Most Determined Volunteers!"
Congratulations to everyone who volunteered and helped us achieve this award. 2009 holds many opportunities for K9COLA and its volunteers. Please continue to be a part of our efforts. For information on how to stay involved email volunteer@k9cola.org or info@k9cola.org.
Itis a great honor for us to receive this national attention and recognition; please forward this email on to anyone you think might be interested. And don't forget to pick up June's issue of Dog Fancy magazine to read the article and see the pictures!