Beau's Dream Dog Park (at Buchanan Park)

“There is nothing better than an amusement park to keep humans entertained and stimulated for hours on end. I feel like the goal of a dog park is for our dogs to interact with other dogs, and to keep them stimulated for an extended period of time. How about a canine amusement park?” 

The words above were written by Angela Bauman, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, as her entry to the Beneful Dog Food "Describe Your Dream Dog Park" contest. You have almost certainly noticed manufacturers contests and drawings and likely have not entered on the assumption that no one wins these things. Well, Angela did win this contest, or, more accurately, her local dog park won, in a big way.

Beau's Dream Dog Park is, in a word, amazing. Beneful spent $500,000 renovating an existing bare-bones dog park. The team they brought in had a dog expert, a landscape architect, and a ton of designers. And the effort shows. The dog park is brilliantly laid out. The park is sizeable, with a small dog section. Both the large dog and small dog sections have splash pads. The small dog section has a metal tube called a doxi tunnel, the other side has a tennis ball tree that launches tennis balls for the larger dogs. There are a wading pool and a bench shaped like a roller coaster. The park is, quite literally, a doggie dream. But what about dog people?

Beau's Dream Dog Park was designed by people for dogs, but that doesn't mean that people have been forgotten. The dog park has astroturf rather than grass, which means that your dog won't come back to you covered with mud and dirt. The park has multiple poop bag dispensers and trash cans. Both sides of the park have lots of covered seating for people, with a nice, clear view of your dog at play so you can be comfortable while being a responsible pet parent.

The original suggestion for Beau's Dream Dog Park was to create a canine amusement park. The good people from Beneful have more than met that objective, to the benefit of every dog in the community.