Dog Park Club digging for the park Saturday

Havre’s Dog Park Club met Tuesday evening and talked about the progress on making a dog-friendly park, and a cleanup event set for Saturday.

“When we started around this time last year and we were looking for a place, we were adopting some bylaws, and we have secured some land and we are definitely making some progress,” President of Havre Dog Park Club Chad Stewart said.

The Havre Dog Park Club is a nonprofit group working to create and maintain Havre’s first dog park.

The board also mentioned during its meeting Dig for the Dog Park is scheduled for this Saturday to work on cleaning up the park.

A release from the club said it is asking for help Saturday “to clean up rocks and debris and fill holes at the future home of Havre’s first dog park.

“The dog park will be located on city-owned property immediately southeast of the Havre Ice Dome on Fifth Avenue,” the release said. “Rocks, bricks and other large items need to be removed, and gopher and badger holes need to be filled.”

The release said the cleanup will run from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday.

The club is asking volunteers to bring shovels, wheelbarrows, rakes and pickup trucks. Debris will be hauled to the city landfill. The holes will be filled if a source of fill dirt can be found and enough volunteers are there to complete the work.

Bottled water will be provided for the volunteers, the release said.

For more information on Dig for the Dog Park, people are asked to call Juanita Sanborn at 262-7932.

During Tuesday’s meeting, the club reported it has has $6,055.99 in the bank, with all expenses paid.

Its Bark in the Park fundraiser was held Saturday and the event raised a little under $2,000.

“Overall, the event went well. We got our name out and introduced people to the area of where the park will be. I hope we got the community talking and excited about the park,” Havre Dog Park Club member Shannon Bergen said. “We had about 20 dogs attending with their humans and hope for more next year.”

The board continued its discussion on selling sponsored fence by the foot and getting sponsors and founders for the park itself.

The board will also host a meeting for the public on the first Tuesday of every month at Old Station Brewing Co. at 140 First St. at 6 p.m.

Two new board members were approved Tuesday evening, Steve Neiffer and Wanda Meredith.

The board also approved the height of the exterior perimeter fence at five feet.

The Havre Dog Park Club’s next meeting will be held Tuesday, Aug. 20 at 6 p.m. at the District 4 Human Resources Development Council Building at 2229 Fifth Ave.