THOMASTON — The Thomaston Café & Bakery downtown was abuzz with locals, who piled in for an evening of food, drink and a silent auction to help raise funds for the soon-to-be Thomaston Dog Park.

Polly Armstrong, president of the Thomaston Dog Park Association, said that the people love each other and the dogs love each other and they all got together and decided they needed a dog park with a fence. The park will be located close to the Thomaston Cemetery, on land owned by the town that was set aside for the park through a town vote last November.

“It’s a big major field,” said Armstrong. “It’s private and completely surrounded by trees. It’s away from the roads and it’s a wonderful place for dogs. The park is a done deal. We need to raise money for a fence.”

Armstrong said the association needs $40,000 to make the fence and the parking lot a reality.

“It’s almost 4 acres, so it’s a big fence,” said Armstrong. “It’s a 6-foot, galvanized steel fence with a double entry gate. It’s very safe and very efficient for dogs. We’ll have an area for large dogs and there’s another area for shy dogs, small dogs or for whatever reason people don’t want their dogs interacting with others.”

Armstrong said the Association did extensive research looking at different dog parks before coming up with their design.

The Association is a nonprofit with 12 sitting members on the board. Armstrong said there are 7,000 licensed dogs in the Thomaston area. Other than making the land available, the town will not support the park in any way.

“We figure we’ll need approximately $6,000-$7,000 per year for upkeep, mowing, maintenance and insurance, it’s all rough figures right now. The town made it very clear that taxpayer money could not be used. We have 7,000 counted dogs in this area and people come in from Cushing, Friendship, Warren and South Thomaston - from all over.”

Jane Farthing, vice president of the Association, said that support from the community has been phenomenal.

“The Thomaston Café and Ryan [Jones] have been extraordinary,” she said. “He wanted to be involved and wanted to help. He sells dog biscuits here at the café and donates 50 percent of those sales to us. He has just been insanely supportive. He suggested a happy hour more often for the park, so who knows.”

Ryan Jones, owner/chef/farmer for the Thomaston Café, said the restaurant came up for sale and they bought it. They also own and work an organic farm up the road, so now it all supplies the café.

“It’s all pretty local and we like to think that you can afford to eat here once a week,” he said. “A couple of good customers came in and we started talking dogs and the conversation turned to the dog park and we decided let’s do this. We love animals.”

Menu items for the Thomaston Dog Park dinner included small dog dishes and large dog dishes, everything from salad and pizza to beef bourguignon. 

Special drinks could be had at the bar as well. Anything from a Salty Dog or a Neapolitan Mastiff to a Pink Poodle.

The silent auction offered a variety of goods and services, mostly dog related, to bid on. You registered and picked a famous dog out of a bowl and used that name to bid. I was Togo, the Siberian husky famous for the 1925 serum run to Nome, Alaska.

It was a fun event and supported a very worthy cause.