The Home Run Dog Park has one of its prominent features on the agility course a total of five concrete tunnels. These were delivered and installed in the final two weeks of the park construction, and they presented a series of unexpected obstacles.
The concept of course was to install some tunnels that would be structurally permanent, and be strong enough to be buried so that dogs could not only run through them, but over them. After much research, the Friends of Calhoun County Dog Parks decided to pursue acquiring concrete piping.
After days of making calls to suppliers, a company called Northern Concrete Pipe in Charlotte, Michigan was contacted and they offered to sell partially damaged pipes for use in the park at a 95% discount. There was just one catch, we had to find our own solution to have them picked up, delivered and unloaded into the park as they did not have the resources to help us with that on such a small load.
So the next problem that had to be solved was, how does one get 12500 lbs of concrete piping delivered on such a short notice? Calling around the community, we found a knowledgeable resource who was able to connect us with a company called Total Quality Logistics to help with delivery. This contact also helped us connect with a local company Schweitzer, who provided the resources of a industrial sized forklift and driver to help us unload the piping and place them in the park.
This part of the project had its unexpected delays, but we were able to successfully accomplish the delivery, unloading and placement in the park. Following that the ends of the pipes were painted by volunteers (Tanya Davis, Roger Ballard, Jim Eldridge and Michael Delaware) on the weekend prior to the Grand Opening, and any damage to the concrete was repaired with even more volunteers knowledgeable in concrete patching. One of the employees from Schweitzer, Bob Smith, even volunteered his Saturday afternoon to help smoothly patch the inside of the tunnels making it safe for our four legged friends. Sharp edges on the ends of the tunnels were also ground down with an angle grinder to remove any sharp edges, and even more paint was applied.
With a little more phone work, a local landscape company Riverview Recreation helped bury the tunnels in clay compacted gravel, topsoil, grass seed and straw in time for the opening weekend. They also helped with smoothing out any remaining piles of dirt in the park that were left over after the benches were installed.
Since the grand opening, many photos have shown up all over social media with dogs happily trotting through the tunnels, and climbing over their own private mountains as they enjoy the Home Run Dog Park. With a little luck, there will be some grass growing on top of these newly formed hills by Spring of 2020.
