The official name of our dog park is "The Phenix Community Dog Park".
There is a sign at the park which says, "
Dedicated to All Dogs In Public Service." Phenix was a police dog in Benicia.
He was retired the same year we opened the park.
Phenix came to the Benicia Police Department from Germany. He enjoyed patrolling the streets and really liked looking for bad guys.
Phenix was trained in drug detection and was credited with seizing large sums of money and drugs.
During his spare time, Phenix competed in the 1993 Police Olympic Games. His performance in this competition earned him a Bronze Medal.
Yes, that is the way his name was spelled.
We Did it!
Saturday July 15th, 2000 - We put sod in at the dog park! 40 volunteers (not counting the kids and dogs) showed up to help put sod down at the Phenix Community Dog park. There were 6 city workers to direct the effort.
There were three and a half semi-trucks with pallets of sod and two forklifts to unload. We laid the first two truckloads in and hour and had to wait almost an hour and a half while the trucks went back to get the other loads of sod. When the trucks came back, we laid the rest of the sod faster than the two forklifts could get it off the trucks and into the park. The city workers said they had never seen sod go down so fast, with the exception of once when it was being laid by a sodding machine.
We were done with the whole thing (an estimated 20,000 sqft. of sod) by noon. We stopped and ate pizza brought in by the City of Benicia.
The dog park will be closed for about a month so the sod can take hold, then (about mid August), we will have a grand reopening. Keep watching this site for news of the date.
Many thanks to Gretchen Burgess for spearheading the effort to bring a dog park to Benicia. She has been working on it for 7 years. Without her, there may never have been a dog park in Benicia.
Thanks also to the generous donations about $7,000 from private citizens and local businesses and about $7,000 from the City of Benicia. (See below for specific names)
Special thanks to Larry Mazuca and Mike Alvarez of the City Parks and Recreation Commission for all his help and for getting the city to kick in the final funds so we could put in sod instead of seed.
Thanks to our friends who have donated work, money, supplies or support:
Gene Pedrotti at Pedrotti's Ace Hardware
Benicia Veterinary Hospital
Novartis
Double Rainbow Ice Cream shop
Benicia Police Officer's Association
Joe's Foreign Automotive
Marine Services
Southampton Pet Hospital
The City of Benicia (Mike Alvarez and Larry Mazuca especially)
Photos of the sod-laying party
Our dog park has a name.
