Havre dog park fundraising begins in earnest

Havre Dog Park Club hosted its first major fundraising event Friday night at Old Station Brewing Co. on First Street.

The event, called Pints for Paws, was hosted in support of the club's goal to build a dog park in Havre.

A dollar for each pint of beer sold Friday night was donated to the Dog Park Club's efforts. In total, 216 pints were sold - that's 27 gallons of beer. Bergren's Transmission matched the total raised by sale of pints. Another $410 dollars was raised through a silent auction, a 50/50 raffle and outright donations from bar patrons. In all, the club took home $842 from the event.

This fundraising success all comes after over half-a-year of logistical work by a small group of dog owners.

The Havre Dog Park Club was founded in April by president Jenn Archibald after she noticed high support for a dog park in the Havre community.

"We got an overwhelming response from all sorts of people," Archibald said Friday at the fundraiser, adding that she didn't necessarily expect to become the leader of this cause. "I sort of dove in head first."

Since it formed last spring, the club has focused its efforts on gaining support in the community, finding willing donors and becoming an official non-profit organization. With those first steps in the rear-view mirror, they have begun to focus more on fundraising.

Prior to Friday's event, the club had raised about $600 total for their cause, but Archibald said plenty more fundraisers are coming in the near future, including another Pints for Paws, this time at Triple Dog Brewing Co..

Havre resident Jennifer Atchison says she looks forward to the day she'll have access to a dog park in town.

"Everyone else has one," she said, "so it would be nice if Havre had one, too."

While the Dog Park Club does not have a location set in stone, Archibald said, they are looking at an approximately four-acre swath of land near the Havre Ice Dome.

When the club does land a spot for their future park, most of their money will go toward fencing and piping for water.

The members at the fundraiser said that how much this will all cost is a mystery, though, because before a contract is signed the club will not be able to get precise figures on the different elements of their park. Until their plan comes more into focus, Havre Dog Park Club will simply look to continue fundraising efforts to ensure that one day Havre dogs and dog owners will have a park to call their own, they said.