Sandwich Park District’s first dog park opens to rave reviews

Jeff Moravik’s two English cream golden retrievers – Smokey and Bandit – worked up quite the thirst after running around the newly opened Troeger Dog Park in Sandwich.

Troeger Dog Park is the Sandwich Park District’s first dog park. They were among those at the park on Oct. 5 as part of a grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony.

“They love dog parks where they can just run around and play,” said Moravik, who lives nearby in Lake Holiday.

Sandy Brinegar of Newark and her dog Sophie also were enjoying the park.

“It’s nice,” she said. “It’s big enough and there are lots of other dogs to play with.”

The park is named in honor of Roberta Troeger, who had worked for the Sandwich Park District and served on the Sandwich Park Board of Commissioners for a total of 55 years.

Troeger had been on the Park District Board for 30 years and retired from the board recently. Before that, she had worked for the district for 25 years.

“We want to say thank you to Bert for all her hard work and dedication,” Sandwich Park District Executive Director Bill Novicki said to the crowd gathered for the ribbon-cutting ceremony. “This dog park is being dedicated in Bert’s honor for her years of service and dedication to the community as well as the park and rec industry as a whole.”

Troeger, who is a dog lover herself, said she is honored to have the park named after her.

“I’ve had bassets,” she said. “I love bassett hounds. I see these dogs and they’re so fun. They have a personality all of their own. This is a pet project that I hoped we could have here in Sandwich. It’s a rewarding day to finally see it developed.”

Opening a dog park has been a longtime goal of the Sandwich Park District.

“I’ve been with the park district for about 16 years and I know they’ve been talking about this even before I was here,” Novicki said. “I know a lot of residents have been requesting it. We did a big community survey in 2013 and a dog park was third on the list of things the community wanted. The first was a skate park and the second was a splash pad. We’ve already built the skate park and splash pad and now we’ve done the dog park.”

The two-acre Troeger Dog Park is part of the park district’s Milestone Park, which is one of the park district’s larger parks. The skate park and splash pad are both located in Milestone Park.

“When we acquired this land, we knew this was where the dog park was going to go,” Novicki said.

Troeger Dog Park includes such amenities as a drinking fountain for dogs, two benches and dog waste stations.

“We have some local businesses that are going to be donating some obstacle course items like ramps and tunnels and things like that for the dogs to play in and run through,” Novicki said. “A dog memorial area will be added to the dog park probably within the next year or so.”

Troeger Dog Park is open to both residents and nonresidents. Registration is required and dog owners must provide vaccination records for their dogs.

The annual cost for the Troeger Dog Park permit is $20 for a resident dog and $30 for a nonresident dog. More information is on the Sandwich Park District’s website, sandwichparkdistrict.org.