Mud Pit is GONE– Dog Park Looking Great
Gardner’s DPW Crew spent a couple days at the Gardner Dog Park at Pulaski and the results speak for themselves. The drainage project was done in 2 phases with the other side of the park being done more than a year ago. This time the focus was on an area which had become known as the “Mud Pit” by frequent dog park visitors. Before applying the appropriate materials, the team dug down about 4 feet to create the needed drainage. Photographs were taken by Claude Vautour who has spearheaded the effort along with City Councilor Karen Hardern, DPW Director Dane Arnold, and City Engineer Rob Ovila. The project had been on the DPW list for some time. And now, it’s done. Gardner Magazine spoke with Gardner Mayor Michael Nicholson on July 17, 2025 about the project and that it’s just the beginning of improvements at the park. Listen on any device, CLICK PLAY.
Gardner Mayor Nicholson stated: “There’s going to be a lot more work done at the dog park throughout the course of the summertime. But there’s always been concerns about drainage issues at the dog park there, too. So I really have to say a special thank you to our DPW Director, Dane Arnold, and our City engineer, Rob Oliva, who over the past several months and almost a year have been really doing engineering studies of the Gardner Dog Park to see how we can make those drainage issues a thing of the past. So there’s a lot of work that’s being done over right now at the Pulaski Park Dog Park to fix those issues and really make it so that we have the best situation for our four-legged friends who go and utilize that park. I do want to say a very special thank you also to one of our local residents, Claude Vautour, who voiced the concerns originally that something had to be done, and our Ward 4 city Councillor, Karen Hardern, for her advocacy in this as well. This really was a collaborative team effort that’s there. And so while the work started to be done, get ready to see some work being done there throughout the course of the summer.”