Hesston’s new dog park will begin to take more shape very soon, as crews are slated to start setting posts for the new canine enclosure. “They may not string the fence until we are done with some of the construction,” Parks Foreman Josh Hastings said. “They’ll set posts and come back and string fence as one of the latter things.” While the posts are being set, Hesston Park crews will be over-seeding the area, as irrigation will be installed for good grass inside the fence for the dogs. There will also be the construction of a simple, yet effective, bathroom. “We’re going to re-purpose the lights that are at the existing location to the new area,” he said. “There will be drinking fountains as well as fountains for the dogs.” The original opening date for the new dog park was slated for Oct. 1 but has been pushed back. Hastings estimated a mid-October opening date. “We’ve had trouble with getting someone to build a bathroom, but we have someone for that,” Hastings said. “It’s a fairly quick process is what he said, and then we’ll go overseed it. We want to give that grass a week or two to get fairly established before we turn the four-legged folk on it.” Hastings is very familiar with the Newton Dog Park, as he helped build it when he worked for Newton, so he felt there were some things Hesston could do differently, including the irrigation. The park will feature some obstacles for both sides of the park, as it will be divided into a small and large dog side, with small dogs being considered to be 25 pounds or less. “If nothing else, it’s something else to pee on,” Hastings said. In terms of the rest of the parks around Hesston, Hastings said they are currently getting bids for replacing some playground equipment as they develop a plan for the parks. Some of the equipment in the parks is dated and needs to be replaced. The Heritage Park shelter remodel is slated to be wrapped up by mid-October.
Source: Harvey County Now