Railyard Dogs

New Raffle Item!

Courtesy of BFF Pet Paintings

Did you know there is a raffle to help us get those last few dollars in for the park?  Well, it just got a little sweeter as of yesterday!  David Kennett of BFF Pet Paintings has donated a painting of your fuzzy friend to the cause...so get out there and get yourself a chance at a piece of great artwork featuring your very best friend in the world.

We're opening tomorrow!

Yes, it is finally here!  The Railyard Dog Park opens tomorrow, September 23!  There is a reception at 5pm for donors and others who have helped make the park a reality, along with comments from several notables...we'll have hot DOGS, brownie BITES, and lemonade, among other things...if you are among those people that donated, please rsvp to Jen Russell at 303.607.7619...if you have not yet donated, the matching grant is still on, and we will accept donations at the event for entry!  Dogs are welcome, of course!

Otherwise, the park is open to the public at 7pm - we hope to see you, and your furry friends, there!

And check out the props from our friends at Denver By the Slice...

Railyard Dog Park Construction Update

Construction is moving right along at the Railyard Dog Park. The concrete curb which defines the play area is now complete and all of the light poles are set and installed. All of the play sand is spread out and is in the process of final leveling and the pavilion area and donor brick area has been formed and poured. Even the Dog Bone has been formed and will be filled today. The concrete foundations for the benches and pee posts are also being poured this week.

Irrigation installation begins on Monday 8/2. The first weeks in August will focus on irrigation, plantings, foundations for site furnishings and the shade structure.

All-in-all it’s going great. Your doggies will be running free in no time!

Please continue to support this fabulous addition to Riverfront Front Park by donating today. 

Denver Post

The park is coming along!  And the Denver Post noticed.  Check out the great article, and if you haven't yet donated, please do...we're getting closer to debt free!  Stay tuned for an update on how much we've raised on the recent challenge grant!

We're digging in the dirt!

(photo credit - Tracy Altman and her dog, Petey, donors to the park)

...because that is what dogs do!  The Railyard Dog Park is officially under way!

Come out and watch the excavation in the next few days, because this part of construction doesn't take that long when you have companies like Belair Excavating doing the heavy lifting - thank you to the whole team at Belair for helping us get this part of the project done now and done at a price our dogs can afford!   

But we're not there yet - we have a matching grant to raise the final dollars, so every dollar that you give up to $42,000 is matched by the Riverfront Park Community Foundation.  Help us complete the park with no debt so that future dollars can help keep this park beautiful!

Clink here to buy your furry friend a piece of history, or in the event that you'd like to make contact with us in person, please contact Jen Russell at 303.623.1500.

It's ON!

PLEASE   PLEASE   PLEASE   LET  ME  OFF  MY  LEASH!   (photo credit Andy Sutton)

The Dog Park is officially ready to start!

Why NOW, you ask? Well, we got a great loan from Riverfront Park Community Foundation! Here's the best part. It functions like a challenge grant. For every dollar that we raise between today and Labor Day, they will match it dollar for dollar, up to $42,000, and that will be loan that we don't have to pay back! The Foundation has been a huge supporter of this park, contributing almost half of the funds to build it.
 
So...help us get this out of the ground, and help us make sure that we don't have continuing interest costs, rather than being able to use those dollars toward dog bags and other nice things for the park.

We are planning to start in about 2 weeks - that's about how long it will take us to mobilize the subcontractors to build it and other little legalities. Make sure that you can be a part of the donor recognition when the park starts...if you donate your brick before June 15, we can make sure that your brick will be in the ground on opening day...after that, you might have to wait until the second wave.

How do I donate again?   See that orange button up top on your right?  Thank you SO much!

Sponsorship Levels

 (photo credit - Darice Henritze)

I have been getting the question a lot lately about what else someone can do to get this park rolling.  

Yes, we are close.  

And...if we just happened to have a little extra money at the end of it all for taking care of the park, all the better.  I just know you want to get involved.

So here's the goods:

$120 for a brick - press that little yellow button to the right.  :)

$1,000 for a 12x12 paver - this can be personalized to a greater degree...I mean hey, there's more room!  Seriously...a logo, etc.

$5,000 for a bench.  I think there is at least one left at this posting...

$10,000 for a pee post.  Seriously, a pee post?  Yes.  One dog pees there, they ALL pee there.  Get creative here.  Perhaps there is something that you'd like to have the place your dog does his business say something that makes you laugh every day.  I have some ideas if you are looking for one...

$25,000 for the shade structure.  Where do all the people hang out?  Right underneath it for shade from that strong Colorado sun.  

For any of these amounts above and beyond the brick, you can't do that on PayPal.  But that is because we'd like to give you some personal attention.  Like you might expect.  So please call 303.623.1500 and Amy, Chris, Matt or Jen would be happy to talk to you.

New Rendering!

This is the latest and greatest plan which is going through the final approvals at the City in the coming weeks - everyone cross your fingers that it gets approved as designed, and hopefully we can get it started next month!

We will still need your funds, however...in order to complete it we still need your help...please donate now - click on the link at right!  Carlyle in the Riverfront Park sales office will be contacting you soon if you have not yet told us what you want your brick or paver to say.  We're looking forward to showing that you are a supporter of our furry friends!

The Railyard Dogs

"Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole”    - Roger Caras

In July 2004, a group of downtown residents joined together with the Denver’s Environmental Health Department to educate dog owners in Commons Park about Denver’s leash laws.  Virtually every one of these dog owners asked about the possibility of an off-lease area somewhere downtown.

As a result, the same group of residents and interested neighbors joined together with a simple goal – finding a place for a dog to be a dog.  We found a location – a parcel of land that is just under an acre at 19^th and Bassett Street, just around the corned from Denver Skatepark and Commons Park .  Most of the land was already dedicated park land, and Denver Parks and Recreation didn’t have the funding to build it out. 

In 2006, The Railyard Dogs, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, was created to raise the funds to design and construct this park, and to otherwise improve the lives of Downtown Denver dogs.

The Railyard Dogs has changed its membership over the years as changes in staff in Parks and Recreation and Environmental Health have changed, and as our neighbors have changed.  But the mission has remained strong among the core members.

Design

“From the dog’s point of view, his master is an elongated and abnormally cunning dog” – Mabel Louise Robinson

The design is now virtually complete, after exhaustive efforts to make sure this will be the best park it can be.  We knew we couldn’t have grass…it would have been destroyed before it ever had a chance to get started in a small urban park.  We thought of astro-turf, but found out quickly after research by members of our team in San Francisco that the EPA wouldn’t allow it.  So after consulting drainage and landscaping experts, we’ve come up with an elaborate system of where the surface is a sand and gravel mix that overlays varying sizes of gravel and cobble that will cause liquid dog waste to percolate through the material and be naturally cleaned before reaching the native sand below the park.  A much better solution than working its way into the Platte River .

In order to put this in place, we have to excavate a great deal of coal ash to make way for this high-tech soil, and the process of removing the old soil and replacing it with this system is expected to be at least half of the cost of the park.  But we all want it to be a clean and safe place for Fido to play, right?