If dogs could talk, then at least one of the dozens of four-legged friends on site at Moulton Meadows Park on Thursday morning surely would have said, “Open the gate!”
Public officials and community members gathered at the park, high atop the Bluebird Canyon neighborhood of Laguna Beach, for a ribbon-cutting ceremony marking the opening of a new dog play area.
Mayor Sue Kempf couldn’t resist the low-hanging fruit in addressing the attendees, remarking that Moulton Meadows Park had “gone to the dogs.”
The first guests walk into the gates to let their dogs chase each other in the new play area at Moulton Meadows Park in Laguna Beach on Thursday.
(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)
Shortly thereafter, Cooper, Kempf’s Goldendoodle, and Toby, Councilman George Weiss’ West Highland terrier rescue, were among the dogs to christen the play area.
They were followed by dozens of dogs and their owners into the friendly confines, where they ran free of leashes and socialized among each other.
“What matters is the dogs are so happy,” Joan Basombrio said. “… I love so much that it is a local thing. You probably won’t have to share this with the whole world.”
The dog play area provides another option for residents to exercise their pets. The commute between the new facility and Laguna Beach Dog Park, located at 20672 Laguna Canyon Road, is about six miles by car and takes 15 minutes with limited traffic.
Dog owners at Moulton Meadows Park will be able to use the play area from dawn to dusk. It will be closed on Thursdays and during poor weather. Food and alcohol are not allowed on site. The number of dogs will be limited to no more than three per adult.
State Sen. Dave Min (D-Irvine) secured $300,000 in state funding for the project, which included new benches and fencing, a modified irrigation system, renovated turf and a new landscape buffer, as well as a pet drinking fountain.
Jon Gilmer, the contractor for the project, said he had never seen so many of the beneficiaries from his work at once.
Laguna Beach City Council members George Weiss, Mark Orgill and Mayor Sue Kempf, from left, officially open the new dog play area with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Moulton Meadows Park.
(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)
“I’ll tell you, when we were working here on this job, every morning between 7 and 8 o’clock, we had a crew of at least 40 or 50 dog owners that would come by and check progress and ask about dates,” Gilmer said. “‘When’s this going to go in?’ ‘What’s going on over here?’ ‘Are you putting a bench in here?’
“[They were] really involved in the project, so it was kind of fun working with them. We had a lot of residents that brought us coffee, brought us Cokes, brought us water, brought us cookies at Christmas time, so it was a really fun job to work on.”
Large and small dogs chase each other in the new play area at Moulton Meadows Park.
(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)
