Letter to the Editor,

SPARK (Start a Park for Austin’s Respectable K9s) thanks everyone for participating in My Furry Valentine on Feb. 11 at the Oak Park Mall. We specifically want to thank the businesses and groups that enhanced the event with their presence, as well as the Oak Park Mall for hosting our event and being so helpful With the needs of our group! We also want to thank all the four-legged and two-legged attendees for taking time out of their day to share the fun with us.

This fundraising event far surpassed our expectations, and we were pleasantly surprised by the number of attendees. We had approximately 50 photographs taken for Smooches For Your Pooches, and we raised approximately $1,300 for the Austin Dog Park Project. I hope the popularity and interest of this event proves how much people truly value and love their dogs, and why the need for a dog park in Austin is such a valued, important project to so many of us. A well-exercised dog is a good, well-behaved dog.

SPARK reminds everyone that we still have quite a lengthy “walk” in meeting our minimal goal of $15,000 for just the “bare bones” of the park. The City of Austin has been helpful and generous to provide land. However, just the fencing will cost nearly $15,000. That does not include park benches, a pavilion, trash cans, water receptacles and other things to beautify the site, which is on the east side of the intersection of South Main Street and Ninth Place SE.

You can follow our progress, as well as answer your questions about the park by checking out our website at austinsdogpark.org. It is updated frequently and is a work in progress. Thanks again, Austin, and we appreciate your support.

Martha Hauschildt

President of SPARK