A Kalispell canine committee has made efforts in recent months to assemble the money, personnel and materials to create Kalispell’s first dog park.

The largest hurdle to date for the group has been finding a location.

Paws to Play, a Kalispell group focused on developing the park, has reached out to the public for a 7-acre-minimum land donation, but hasn’t seen much response yet. The city of Kalispell has offered a few available spaces but the largest is only 3.5 acres.

“There’s going to be such a huge use of this field that if it’s too small it could be dangerous. We want to do it right,” said Chris Carter, founder of Paws to Play.

The idea started several years ago when Carter decided it was time for Kalispell to match Whitefish’s top-notch dog park. Carter reached out to the Whitefish Animal Group that facilitated Whitefish’s dog park. She came up with a plan to create a group that can generate money through community involvement.

In January, Carter created the group Paws to Play and started talking with the city about possibilities for locations and maintenance.

Diane Bokor, another Paws to Play advocate, said the Kalispell Parks and Recreation Department saw the need for a dog park and agreed to take over maintenance once the land materialized.

The group held its first event, Love Your Dog, on Valentine’s Day in Lawrence Park. Carter said about 75 people came out with their dogs just to see what the group was about. Paws to Play began taking donations and the budget was finally in the black.

The next event, Going for the Green, came in March and raised $2,600. Paws to Play member Alison Megahan said the March donations gave the group enough weight to file as a nonprofit with the Flathead Community Foundation, meaning all donations made to Paws to Play are tax deductible. Since growing into a real nonprofit, Paws to Play has taken part in community nights held by local restaurants and businesses that can provide a margin of the night’s profits.

“It’s nice that they can do that and then we can focus on bigger events,” Megahan said.

The biggest event was Doggie Dayz on Sept. 19 in Lawrence Park. The event attracted booths, vendors and dozens of dogs and their owners. Paws to Play raised about $3,100 in a single day.

The group has collected about $13,000 in donations since February. Its final goal is $100,000. The group expects fencing the lot to cost about $21,000.

The next step, Bokor said, is acquiring a tangible space for these donations. People need to see that their donations are headed in some direction, she said.

“People are telling us that they’re coming from Dayton and Lakeside to get to the Whitefish dog park, so we’d like to make it more accessible for them,” Bokor said.

Once a location is found, Paws to Play will immediately move toward fencing the area and opening the park for use. As donations continue to come in, details such as drinking fountains and trail benches will follow.

“The way I feel is, it’s already there, we just can’t see it yet,” Bokor said. “There are so many people who want it, we just need it to appear.”

For more information on Paws to Play and the dog park project, visit pawstoplay.org or email [email protected].

Reporter Seaborn Larson may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at [email protected].