More than you really want to know about Natick, Mass.
The annual Natick Days community festival would have been today, Sept. 12, if it weren’t for the pandemic. That call was made a while back.
While lamenting the absence of the event this year, I was reminded of a picture I took back in 2011 of a Natick Days sign.
What’s with the cat? Was there really an issue with people bringing cats?
I waited my turn on Monday to enter the newly opened Natick dog park, Eddie’s Park, on Rte. 135, behind a young rascal called Friday who didn’t seem especially up for meeting new dogs. The pup clung to Dad as other dogs circled and jumped to greet their new playmate. Seconds later, that little brown dog was doing the circling and chasing, acclimating immediately to its new surroundings.
I then dipped, dog-less, into the wide open new dog park, seven years in the making. I feared I might be just salty and stinky enough, coming straight from a sweaty run, to attract a good number of the dozen or so dogs scrambling and sniffing around the new space.
But they wanted little to do with me since I was toting just a camera, and they had plenty of other pups to occupy themselves. At least a dozen dogs, covering a variety of breeds, enjoyed the park, accompanied by twice as many humans, some of whom refilled water dishes from the handy dispenser at the site.
The humans seemed to pay little attention to me either, chatting away with each other (“It’s my first time here”…”We have no idea what breed he is, he came from Alabama”…”I can’t believe he took a treat from you” etc.). Some came by car, others walked to the park, dog and child stroller in hand.
Dogs chased balls and each other across the wood chips, around the trees, rocks and other props that break up the vast space. The small dog area hasn’t opened yet, but dogs large and small seemed to be getting on just fine.
This space is off to a great start.
Eddie’s Park, the Natick off-leash dog area that has been in the works since 2013, has finally opened. Note that the small dog area is still closed due to fence damage caused by a falling tree.
The fenced-in park, named for a young Natick boy named Eddie Kramer who died in 2014, is located at the entrance to the Middlesex Path along Rte. 135 (109 West Central St.).
A feasibility study issued in 2015 says the Natick Open Space Advisory Committee in 2013 charged a group of citizens to form a working group to identify and evaluate possible sites. Among locations considered was near the Henry Wilson cobbler shop and the Town Forest.
Some $300,000 was raised from foundations, including the Stanton Foundation and FIDO of Natick,to build the park. No taxpayer dollars were used.
In an update last month, we reported about a Little Free Library and donation box planned for installation at the park.
The park has had to withstand a couple of possible arguments against its opening from those concerned about the use of conservation land for this purpose.
FIDO, the group spearheading the new dog park on Rte. 135 along Lake Cochituate, hopes to soon open the facility once the town signs off on a few last things.
The groundbreaking for Eddie’s Park took place a year ago and an orientation meeting for dog owners was held over the winter in anticipation of a possible spring 2020 opening. The dog gathering spot looks to be in pretty good shape, especially with volunteers this week doing some weeding and the Eddie’s Park sign recently being revealed.
FIDO’s Kelly McPherson gave a bit of an update on additional happenings regarding the park at last week’s Natick Conservation Committee meeting (starting at about the 40-minute mark on Natick Pegasus’s recording).
McPherson received the committee’s blessing to put both a Little Free Library and secured donation box outside the park. McPherson says she recently added such a library to her own front lawn.
One kink at the park has been that trees planted by the town have croaked as a result of the drought and not having a watering source. New trees will be planted once the water hookup is set.
Also, McPherson said about 20 perennials were swiped from the grounds and FIDO volunteers have begun replacing them with plants of their own (or will once the water connection is set).
“There have already been some shenanigans down there…” she said, referring to the plant thefts. “… so we really do need to get that park open and used,” she said.
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Natick’s most popular dog names for 2020: A tie!
