Minooka’s Larry Simotes earns Citizen of the Year after spearheading Veterans Dog Park

Larry Simotes was looking for a way to give back, and came up with an idea that combined both his love of dogs and his respect for veterans.

That led to the creation of Minooka’s Veterans Dog Park.

That wasn’t the only reason he won Minooka’s Citizen of the Year at the 2025 State of the Village address. He is also a longtime resident and a state championship-winning baseball coach and the owner of Simotes Motors.

“I’ve always loved dogs and given to dog charities, whether it was here or in Michigan, where we lived for a couple of years,” Simotes said. “I decided to sponsor the adoption from this not-for-profit that would adopt out maybe 20 dogs per week. Every dog that week got adopted, and it was around Christmas.”

Simotes said he and his wife paid for all those adoptions, and he came up with the project by that helps dogs and honors veterans. He wrote a book about a war hero, George Bigelow, who survived the sinking of the SS Leopoldville on Dec. 24, 1944.

He said Barry Thompson, a relative and good friend of his who has been on the Village Board for about 30 years, asked if he’d considered combining the two for a dog park right across the tracks from Downtown Minooka.

“The greatest blessing was when I bought the land with the goal for me to pay for the whole park to be completed, and as I would go out ask people I know, friends, businessmen, baseball friends, anyone who knew me, to get pricing and do things. I just couldn’t believe the people who would say, ‘you know, Larry, I’ll do this, or I’ll do half of this if you buy the lumber and I’ll build the pergola,’” Simotes said. “It was really amazing. I could give you so many names, but we’d be here forever.”

Simotes’ son, Grant, told the crowd at the Minooka State of the Village address, while accepting his father’s award, that the journey started with talking to Pete Fleming and Brandon Tonarelli to buy the land.

Fleming wouldn’t take a commission on the purchase. Then he tried to hire a digger, who said he’d handle it for free. Then he tried to hire Narvick Bros. to put in concrete sidewalks, and they did the sidewalks without accepting payment. Vogt Masonry did the same for the brick columns in the entrance.

“I never set out for this to be a monetary thing or to be something to make me look like a tough guy,” Simotes said. “I never gave it a thought. We built the park, my family and I and some of the patriots, and that was basically it. I donated it to the Village of Minooka, and they were fantastic, Mayor (Ric) Offerman and all of them are all fantastic.”

Simotes said he appreciated all the feedback from the community, thanking him for his efforts. One piece of feedback stood out more than most. The owner of the coffee shop, Ike’s Place, messaged him to congratulate him. It was someone he hadn’t heard from in 30 years.