HONESDALE, Pa. — The tails are wagging with excitement for the new dog park and trail at Apple Grove Park in Honesdale.
Karen Mabee of Honesdale says her dog Stella looks forward to one thing, "Off-leash. That's the only place in town she can go off she's in town. She stops at every dog bowl in the ice cream store but she needs a place burn off, She's very high energy extremely."
The borough parks and recreation committee held a dedication to celebrate the new addition. Officials say people in the community spoke up about wanting a dog park.
"They Brought a petition, signed by many people, to get a dog park in town, and we didn't have one. We didn't have a place for dogs to be off leash and to play with each other safely," said Jim Hamill, Honesdale Parks and Recreation.
People who live nearby say they're excited to have a space for their dogs to get some exercise and socialize without having to travel far from home.
"Really excited about the park. We normally have to drive to Hawley every day, which is like a 15 or 20-minute drive, and I'm so really happy that that was finally here," said Mabee.
"If you have dogs, you gotta walk them, so I was, yeah, I didn't know it went this far back, so I was quite surprised and glad to see I,t and I'm gonna definitely be here," said Morgen Hatton, Honesdale.
The borough got a $114,000 grant from the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and 11,000 from the Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau to make this a reality.
"The borough doesn't necessarily have a huge budget to spend on developing parks, but once this is in place, the low amount of maintenance that's required here, but the big impact of connectivity accessibility," said Hamill.
The funding also provided an ADA walking path to connect the parking lots through the park.