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Date: 3/23/2023
ENFIELD — The Enfield Dog Park on Ecology Drive was closed from March 15 to 19 due to the lack of volunteers.
The park opened in December of 2011 and run by the Enfield Dog Park Action Committee, an all-volunteer group and nonprofit organization which consists of five members who do all of the fundraising activities and arrange for maintenance on the park. The committee relies on volunteers to help them run the park. The members are all over the age of 50 and not physically able to go in and empty refuse stations, rake and maintain the park and spread wood chips. Despite several pleas for help, the committee did not receive commitments from enough people to help them with park maintenance and fundraising.
As a result, the committee had to close the park for five days and reopened on March 20. If the committee didn’t have enough volunteers, they would have been forced to close the park permanently.
President Karen Pugliese said, “We have been short on volunteers for the last couple of years and I think COVID[-19] had a lot to do with it. We lost a lot of our regulars, but I think we’re turning a corner just us putting out the announcement that we were closing the park for the five days.”
She continued, “It was not because we didn’t necessarily have volunteers for that week, it was an eye opener to show people that this may become a permanent reality if we can’t get some help.”
The committee has come to realize that it does not have enough volunteers to help with everyday maintenance. To keep the park open permanently, the committee needs volunteers to sign up and commit to a regular schedule for the Park Patrol which is a one week rotating basis. Several people have come forward since the committee made the announcement to come on board and volunteer. Though some people weren’t happy the committee closed the park, Pugliese told Reminder Publishing it opened up the conversation that they are serious.
“We have dedicated the last 11 years of our lives to this park,” Karen Pugliese said. “We don’t want to see it go away. It’s probably the most used park in Enfield. People have formed not only pet friendships, but human friendships and bonds that have been formed at the park; it’s a huge social network.”
She went on to say, “There are people that bring their dogs there on a regular basis that their dogs know each other and play well together. Not everybody has a fenced in backyard they can let their dogs out to run and exercise. The Enfield Dog Park is a one acre square area split into two sections for small dogs and large dogs that they can play off leash.”
Not only Enfield residents use the dog park, but many communities and surrounding towns as well. Residents from East Windsor, Springfield, Agawam, Longmeadow, East Longmeadow and many other communities frequent the park. So far, the committee is up to over a dozen volunteers. Vice President Greg Pugliese is reaching out to each person who comes forward to volunteer and meeting them individually at the park to go over the roles and responsibilities of the Park Patrol. Their hope is to have 15 volunteers, one for each week on a rotating basis. Now that the park is reopened, the committee wants to make sure all of the volunteers stay on board and continue with their biggest fundraising campaigns of the year which is Puppy Pride on June 3, taking place at the Moose Lodge in Enfield, and the annual Dog Park Mayor Contest. They could use help with both of these large events for both the planning stages and the day of the event.
Fundraising and Events Chairperson Bob Marshall said, “We’re hoping to attract some new talent into the board and into the committee to help us with fundraising and maintenance in the future.” He went on to say, “We have an asset like this park in town that we can provide to individuals that live in apartments or a house without a fenced yard so their dogs are able to go out and socialize with one another.”
For information on how to volunteer, contact Pugliese at enfielddogpark@gmail.com or Marshall at enfielddogparkevents@gmail.com.