PHILIPSBURG — It was the idea of a resident years ago, and if all goes according to plan, Philipsburg will have its own dog park sometime next year.
Elliott Lauder said he went to a Philipsburg Borough Council meeting a few years ago and asked council if they had ever considered putting in a dog park.
“My wife and I would do a lot of traveling and we’d take our dog with us,” Lauder said. “One of the things we’d do is we’d take our dog to dog parks ... we’d stop at dog parks and let them run around and everything to give them a little break while we could chill and talk to people.”
Lauder said he would then go to a dog park in State College and said it was “a really cool atmosphere.”
“We liked it a lot and thought it’d be sweet to have one of these over in Philipsburg where we live,” Lauder said.
Lauder admitted he knew nothing about local politics at the time, but he heard the town had a council and figured he’d go there to suggest one.
Council liked the idea and approved of potentially constructing one. However, it would be up to Lauder to come up with the funding and he worked with borough manager Joel Watson on the location.
“He took time out of his day and showed me different spots for where we could do the park,” Lauder said of Watson. “We looked at four or five different spots where we could do the dog park and ultimately we decided on the spot where it’s at.”
That spot is located on the corner of East Pine Street and U.S. Route 322 (Railroad Street).
“When (Watson) first took me there, it was very wooded,” Lauder said, mentioning there was a lot to clean up. “This spot was perfect because it was centrally located ... and it was kind of nice to have its own separate space away from everything else.”
Lauder said eventually, he’d like to see a legitimate walkway that goes to the nearby Slabtown park to connect the two.
Fundraising was the next item of business. They sold stickers, dog treats that were made from grains that were from when Race Street Brew Works was open in Clearfield, held raffles and made memorial bench sales.
“We had a lot of different fundraisers and sold a lot of dog treats,” Lauder said.
The community support was overwhelming, Lauder said, as they created a dog park committee that had actual meetings at the borough building. From there, they have been able to raise more than $8,000 so far.
“There’s been a lot of community involvement in this,” Lauder said. “It’s just awesome. It’s been 100 percent fundraising and donations.”
They were all set and ready to go this spring. But then, of course, COVID-19 hit and things got delayed, Lauder said. However, the Philipsburg Borough crew broke ground on it a couple weeks ago.
Lauder said he has a friend in engineering who helped draw up designs of the park and they plan on being extremely creative when it comes to what it will look like.
“There’s going to be a big dog side and a little dog side,” Lauder said. “Within each side ... I want to get the community’s input on what we’re going to put in there. I’ve seen a lot of simple things that we can pretty much do for free ... but we’re going to get real creative with that. There’s been a lot of really cool ideas that have come up at past meetings.”
They will also keep some trees within the park and Lauder said they will try to get a pavilion or two in there eventually, with Lauder stating Watson has some ideas on how they can do that.
The park, Lauder hopes, should be up and running sometime in the spring for those to utilize, as the borough crew is doing all of the construction.
Once it is up and running, Lauder said Philipsburg Borough will maintain and run the park. Those wanting to make donations toward it can contact the borough office. Further information on the dog park itself can be found at the “Philipsburg Dog Park” Facebook page.
“It’s just been a passion project of mine for the last few years and it’s just really cool to see it happen,” Lauder said.
