By Sheldon Spackman

Newly renovated dog-run park opens at Bethany CollegeSide Gardens

Sep 8, 2018 | 3:24 PM

Residents, visitors and their pets stand to benefit from a newly renovated dog-run park at Bethany CollegeSide Gardens in Red Deer.

This after an anonymous donor stepped forward recently and gifted the facility $35,000 for the project.

A Garden Party was held at the facility on the campus of RDC Saturday afternoon to commemorate the event, with residents, families and community partners all enjoying the sunshine, games, food, swag give-aways, facility tours and doggy bags of course.

Darlene Grasdal, Site Manager, Bethany CollegeSide Gardens, says the event is a celebration of their newly redone dog-run park.

“It’s got some artificial grass, some obstacles for dogs to enjoy, a seating area and a pergola, it’s really exciting,” she exclaims. “It’s a great place for residents to take their dogs or family to come and take their dogs and it’s just an awesome space. We’re really excited about it.”

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She says Bethany CollegSide Gardens has always had the dog-run park since opening in October of 2010 but adds it was definitely in need of some tender loving care.

“It was a little overgrown with some weeds, it didn’t quite have the same draw it does now,” states Grasdal. “The residents are very excited about it. They’re excited to have something really pretty to look at, it’s a nice place to go just if you wanted to sit and have a quiet visit or if you have a family that comes and you just want to have some space, it’s for that too, it’s not just for dogs.”

Grasdal says with Bethany CollegeSide Gardens being a pet-friendly facility, having an amenity like this just made sense.

“When we opened, we chose to let residents move-in with their pets because we feel that they’re part of the family,” explains Grasdal. “It’s pretty hard to think about making a move to a community without that pet. We have one lady that got displaced in the High River flood and lost her home and had a pet and she moved here and she still lives here, so it’s that kind of thing where you can really make it home for someone.”