Southampton Village Dog Park Opens Sunday with Ribbon Cutting, Hamptons Dog Walk

This Sunday, June 8, Southampton Village, in conjunction with the Southampton Animal Shelter, will celebrate the grand opening of the village’s new dog park.

Southampton Village Mayor Mark Epley and the village trustees will be on hand to welcome all dogs—and their humans!—to the first public dog park to be established in Southampton Village.

The celebrations will kick off at 10 a.m. Sunday with a ribbon-cutting event, followed by the Southampton Animal Shelter’s Hamptons Dog Walk. The walk will last just over a mile, and interested parties can register for $30 in-person at the event.

All proceeds from the Hamptons Dog Walk will benefit the furry residents of the Southampton Animal Shelter.

The opening will also feature local delicacies: Tate’s Bake Shop will provide attendees with fresh Crutchley Crullers; Hamptons Bagels will serve their namesake treat; Beach Treats will offer free ice cream; and Hint Water will quench participants’ thirst.

The event will also include a Chinese auction featuring prizes from Southampton’s local businesses.

At 10:30, following the dog walk, Little Lucy’s Canine Couture will host a fashion show. The show promises to delight a wide variety of onlookers—from children to teens and their parents—with a display of dogs dressed in their best, most adorable outfits.

The Southampton Village Dog Park was originally conceived by a few local dog owners on the beach. They formed a small committee, which met with Epley to put forth the idea, according to Southampton Village resident Zoe Kamitses. Epley’s wife, Marianne, had been trying to create a dog park and was very much in favor of the idea, so the mayor suggested a location near Agawam Lake, but the village trustees turned it down.

In response to the rejection, Kamitses and the committee created a petition and returned to the trustees after collecting more than 600 signatures. However, they were turned down again because the location near Agawam Lake encompassed too many complications.

Two weeks later, the committee returned to the village trustees with a new location, Lola Prentice Memorial Park, and this time the trustees unanimously approved the location and agreed the village would maintain it if the committee raised enough money to create the park.

The committee raised more than $80,000 for fencing, parking, signage, and a 20-foot big red dog made of steel that will stand as the park’s signature.

The Southampton Village Dog Park at Lola Prentice Memorial Park is located on Windmill Lane, just north of the Southampton Village Police Station.