Dream Becomes Reality

Farmville Dedicates New Dog Park

Last Friday afternoon Town of Farmville officials and community members, along with their pets, joined as the town dedicated its newest facility.

The Dr. Erica Geary Memorial Dog Park, located adjacent to the DMV on North Virginia Street, is now officially open. The park has been named in honor of Dr. Geary, who was a veterinarian at Ridge Animal Hospital. Geary, 26, died in an automobile accident last April.

Veterinarian Dr. French spoke at Friday’s dedication noting, “This is a really great day in Farmville. For so long, many of these pets that we have here in town, the only exercise they received was on the end of a leash.”

According to Dr. French, Geary began her work at Ridge Animal Hospital with plans of honing her skills to one day take those skills to the missions fields in Mongolia.

Dr. French donated $10,000 to the construction of the day park.

Town Manager Gerald Spates also spoke at Friday’s dedication noting Dr. Geary’s care and compassion for animals. “I had an opportunity to meet Erica when she took care of my cat at Ridge Animal Hospital,” he said. “I was impressed with her because of her caring attitude and compassion for the animals, as well as ourselves.”

The idea of a dog park began three years ago when Cristine Voitko of Farmville started a Facebook page to see if there was interest in having a dog park in the town.

After much work and donations, the Town of Farmville completed the dog park back in November.

Currently, there is a tenth of an acre that is being utilized for the park, which has areas for both large and small dogs as well as watering stations.