The town made several improvements to the Arts and Recreation Center on Lee Street including installing air conditioning in the gymnasium. The vents above players practicing recently allow for more comfortable warm-weather programming in the facility.
Howling over Arts & Rec New dog park, rec center updates among reasons for residents to tail wag By Donna Marie Williams
Ayden finally has a park that’s worth barking about. Ayden Arts and Recreation celebrated the opening of its off leash dog park Oct. 2 — an addition among many tail-wagging developments with the department this year. The desire for a dog park in Ayden was “overwhelming” in a survey conducted by Arts and Rec in 2018. “People wanted it and said they wouldn’t mind driving to the dog park,” Arts and Recreation Director Tommy Duncan said. With that in mind, town leaders set their sites on establishing a safe site for pups to play at The Ayden District Park, 3909 Jolly Road. The park was large enough and a great location for everyone to hold events and have fun outdoors, especially in the summer when the splash pad opens, said park advocate and Town Commissioner Raymond Langley. Langley also saw the need for a dog park with many in town having small to no
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backyards. “I feel the dog park is an amenity that helps our citizens and visitors — especially those that live in apartments as well as those that don’t have a fenced-in area for the dogs to be safe and be able to exercise and roam around freely and be social with other dogs as permitted by the owners,” Langley said. With ample room to play, the facility is situated in a fenced half acre at the District Park. It lets dogs run Tommy Duncan freely unleashed. Benches, trash cans and doggy bags are provided to assist canine companions and ensure the park is kept clean. “It gives the people a place to take their dogs so they can socialize. A lot of people have a small backyard or no backyard at all. This gives them a place for their dogs to exercize,” Duncan said. The park also gives residents a place to
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meet fellow dog lovers and like-minded community members. This allows for friendship and a sense of community to evolve in Ayden, Duncan said. “They socialize while the dogs are socializing with other dogs. It’s a good meeting place for people to meet new people and make friends and for people to meet other dog lovers,” Duncan said. Since opening, Langley has been one to frequent the park taking along his pit bullhound mix Zoey. “The first day of opening we had several people attend to exercise their dogs, we had people from out of state that really enjoyed the fact that Ayden has a dog park. I feel as we continue to let people know that it is available, we will continue to see more people using the park,” Langley said. The park was partially funded through a grant from the Pitt County Economic Development Commission. While the park is modest now, Ayden Arts and Recreation hopes to add fun obstacles for the dogs to interact with, Duncan said.
AYDEN MAGAZINE
