FORT WALTON BEACH — The Greater Fort Walton Beach Chamber of Commerce has raised a little more than half of the $30,000 needed to build a new dog park at Liza Jackson Park.
The chamber has raised $16,000 and plans to use $14,300 of that to pay for the park fencing. CEO and President Ted Corcoran will present a check to the Fort Walton Beach City Council at its meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
“Now we are raising money for the inside stuff: water stations, doggie disposable bag dispensers, benches, stuff like that,” Corcoran said. “We will continue the fundraising ... ideally throughout the end of the year, to get it totally outfitted.”
City officials, who are providing the park land at no cost to the chamber, recently reconfigured the dog park’s footprint to avoid some low-lying areas that are prone to flooding after heavy rains.
“I think what it does is it kind of incorporates the whole east end, the grassy area,” said Jeff Peters, recreation and cultural services director for the city.
The park will be built just west of Red Lobster restaurant and will feature separate areas for small and large dogs.
Peters said the city is in the process of getting price quotes for the fencing and could begin installing it by the first or second week of September.
The chamber plans to open the dog park on Oct. 12 to coincide with this year’s Dog Daze Festival. Revenue generated from the admission charged at Dog Daze each year will be used to maintain the dog park in the future.
For more information about the dog park or to donate, call the Chamber of Commerce at 244-8191.
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Kari C. Barlow at 850-315-4438 or kbarlow@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @KariBnwfdn.
