Parks of St. Pete: “Going Bow Wow for Dog Parks” By Tina Brakebill St. Pete is home to more than 150 parks, offering a wide variety of possible activities. There are over 100 picnic areas, 80 playgrounds, 44 miles of fitness trails, 30 basketball courts, 21 boat ramps, 11 softball fields, six dog parks, five beaches, three skate parks, two disc-golf courses, and one Jai-Alai court. But that’s not all! We also have 76 tennis courts. 33 football/ soccer fields, 31 baseball fields, nine volleyball courts, four historic sites, three nature preserves, and one splash pad. And, still, there’s more! Simply put, choose an activity (or choose to just relax) and there’s a city park that fits your needs.
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GREENBENCHMONTHLY.COM / FEBRUARY 2022
Most dog parks have separate spaces for small and large dogs to play in. Photos by Brian Brakebill
“Dog Parks Unleashed!” It’s not just the humans that benefit from our fantastic park system. Our pups also have their own places to play. Historically, the first dog park launched in the San Francisco Bay area in the early 1980s as a response to urbanization, the proliferation of leash laws, and shifting ideas about the role dogs play in our lives. The idea quickly spread. By the new millennium, at least 500 dog parks welcomed unleashed frolicking and, according to the nonprofit Trust for Public Land, as of 2019 the nation’s 100 biggest cities have over 810 dog parks. Today, St. Pete is an enthusiastic supporter of the idea, ranking number 15 in the Trust for Public Land’s list of “dog-parkiest” cities, but it’s not always been that way. As Dr. Welch Agnew, assistant director of Pinellas County’s veterinary services, noted in early 2001, the county “has been slow to bite on the trend” and even when locals expressed initial interest, its eventual success was not immediately foreseeable.
