by Rebecca Bryant, July 3, 2003

Burnsville dog park is a big hit

Burnsville Recreation Department supervisor Garrett Beck said the seven-acre Alimagnet Dog Park, located at 1200 Alimagnet Parkway off of County Road 11, has “really grown beyond [his] wildest dreams.”

Beck and 10 residents helped develop the $1,900 project nearly two years ago.

“Most dog parks in Minnesota were on the northern end of Minneapolis,” Beck said. “This area didn’t have anything like that.”

Lynn Ellingson, director of the park’s newsletter, said she knew someone from Red Wing who uses Alimagnet Dog Park and just got an e-mail from a person who lives in Cannon Falls who also uses it.

“There is a huge need,” Ellingson said. “People drive a long ways to come to these parks. Not everyone comes up to go to the megamall, right? They’re coming up to go to the local dog park.”

After the permit system was in place, the park basically paid for itself so it was not a financial strain on the city of Burnsville, said Beck.

“It’s just been a positive addition to the park system,” Beck said.

The dog park is also useful from an enforcement standpoint, he said.
“People like to let their dogs run loose,” Beck said. “If they don’t have a place to do it, they do it anyway.”

Beck knows from experience that it’s hard to exercise large dogs in particular. He owns two Siberian huskies, Storm and Timber.

“I can’t keep up with them,” Beck said. “I do Rollerblade the dogs in the summer.”

Arika Hage, who has been a board member of PACK since January, is in the dog park every day with her black lab, Wrigley.

“He loves the park,” Hage said. “You say, ‘want to go to the park?’ and he goes crazy.”

Ellingson started bringing her collie, Carlo, to the park in October.

“If I don’t bring him every morning that I am home and off work, he bugs me,” Ellingson said. “He will whine. ... I mean, it’s pretty funny. If I say ‘dog park,’ forget it. It’s over. I better bring him soon.”

Although it is not monitored, Hage said in a two-hour span 40 to 60 people go in and out, and there are even out-of-towners. Beck said that at any time there are one to 10 to 20 people and there are just under 500 permits this year. Each household is encouraged to purchase a permit if they choose to have an unleashed dog in the park. The funds from the $15 permits goes toward upkeep and printing of the newsletter.

“I think a lot of people aren’t even aware they need a permit, so there is even more people who are going,” Ellingson said.

“The volume of people is a neat thing,” said Beck. “People use it daily.”

“There’s the lunchtime crowd, there’s the after work crowd, the weekend crowd,” Ellingson said.

People who do not own dogs also like visiting the park, Beck said. He knows of a couple who is unable to have a dog, but they love dogs and wanted to interact with them.

“When they heard it had a walking trail, it became an outlet,” Beck said.

Hage believes the park has a “really nice community atmosphere” in which you know the names of the dogs first.

Ellingson said at dog parks money, status and career are not the main topics of conversation, which is nice.

“Dog people are pretty cool people,” Ellingson said. “Generally speaking, they are friendly by nature. ... It’s a really easy way to talk to people without feeling like you have to talk about yourself, or where you work. I think a big part about dog parks is that the usual things that matter when you meet people, don’t matter at all. You’re there, you’re talking about your dogs and it’s a very healthy, natural environment.”

“Relationships between people develop,” Beck said. “I didn’t expect that to happen.

“For people who don’t know, a dog park isn’t a park for dogs.” Beck added. “It’s a park for people who have dogs.”