FRANKFORT, Ind. – The Mary Jane McMahon Dog Park reached a milestone Saturday (September 10) when the Frankfort Parks Department and the City of Frankfort held a public ceremony to celebrate the completion of phase 1 of the project at Dorner Park.
With fencing completed, the public can now use the dog park on an enter-at-your-own-risk until formal security measures are implemented.
The Mary Jane McMahon Dog Park is named after the first female mayor elected in Frankfort who served two-terms from January 1976 until December 1983. She passed away in July 2014.
The dog park features both a large dog area plus a small dog area. The fencing runs 300 feet long plus has double entry fencing to help ensure dogs do not get out when others are entering and exiting the dog park.
“This is something that I’ve heard for years that people wanted with a dog bark and I think it’s exciting; it’s finally happening,” said Frankfort Mayor Judy Sheets after the event. “And as you can tell, there’s a lot of people in support of this – they just couldn’t wait for this to happen.”
Frankfort Parks Superintendent Bart Kraning said this day was long in coming.
“I feel like I’ve been working on this for – like years,” said Kraning. “I mean, because I really was just in the first couple months of my job, figuring out how we can pay for this. So this is very satisfying to see everyone here and they brought their dogs in. I’m happy about that.”
Mayor Sheets described the influence Mary Jane McMahon had on her on both a professional and personal level
“Mary Jane was a great mayor for our city – served for two terms – she was always someone that I looked up to,” reflected Mayor Sheets. “She was the first female mayor for the city of Frankfort. She loved this community. She loved the employees of this community. And, at the time I came into office, she was in the city building where I was so we talked pretty much on a daily basis – I learned a lot from her – how government was ran, what was important, how much she loved this community. She was a great person and I’m so excited that her family was here today to be able to enjoy this.”
“I’m telling you, she’s probably looking down on us today and saying yes, because she was always such a positive mayor, always such a strong person.”
Mayor Sheets thanks the support of the George Dorner family for the financial gift to make the park possible in addition to the support from the community.
“I love the support that we’re getting from the community on this and a special thanks to George Dorner and his family. This is fantastic. I mean, when they first came and wanted to do something at Dorner park and this is what we ended up doing, I’m like, wow, this is great. And it’s a great need. I think we’re probably one of the last communities to get a dog park.”
Kraning described the next phases to the park, the equipment, lighting, security and a pickle ball court at Dorner Park.
“We’ll have security lighting [during] phase two also including the form to the community so then they know what’s expected when they come to the dog park and then also getting the key fob system installed in place,” explained Kraning. We’ve ordered [the equipment], unfortunately we’ve had a shipping issue.
“The pickle ball courts [are] gonna start – the asphalt here will be ripped up and then basically in the spring they’ll have brand new pickleball courts here and security lighting, fencing, and new parking.”
In addition to all the equipment installed inside of the fenced dog park there will also be new drinking fountains and the remainder of the safety features installed.
The projected completion is Spring 2023.
