Even though the weather had turned cool and windy, when the gates of Homewood’s Splash Pad opened to a canine clientele for the first time at 5 p.m., Sept. 5, the atmosphere was pure Happy Hour. 

The event, Pups at the Pad, is a production put together by Homewood-Flossmoor Park District Recreation Supervisors Zachary Kerby and Devin Frendreis, both of whom love dogs. In fact, Kerby is in charge of Rovers Run, the park district’s dog park, and is actively looking for other opportunities to incorporate doggie activities into the park district offerings. 

“People love their dogs and spend a lot of time and energy on them,” he said. “Opening the Pad to dogs gives them a much bigger yard than they’re used to.”

While Kerby said he expected about a dozen dogs and their owners to come to the inaugural Pups at the Pad, about an hour into the 2-hour event at least twice that many canines were running through, rolling in and just splashing around in the water.

“I think this is a great idea,” said Diane McGrath of Chicago Heights, who brought her chihuahua Weegee. “The dogs are having a lot of fun, even if many aren’t going in the water.”

That was before Meatball, an English bulldog, arrived and repeatedly dived into the puddles head-first. “She’ll play until she’s really tired,” said her owner Eric Rios of Flossmoor. “Then she’ll rest until she can go back in.”  

Besides the opportunity to romp and splash, the dogs were offered free Pup Cups, thanks to the paper cups donated by Starbucks and whipped cream supplied by Frendreis. There also was a drawing for two gift baskets — one for humans and one for dogs — and there were vendors displaying their mobile grooming vehicle and another informing about her organization’s pet-sitting services. 

“This is great. I hope they keep doing things like this,” said Nancy Wilson, who was there with her son Patrick and their golden retriever Charlie, aka Chuck, who repeatedly took off to romp through the water to retrieve his favorite ball.  Like many of the other dogs at the Pad, Chuck demonstrated his delight by running free with other dogs and rolling around in the water in celebration. 

For information about or suggestions for future dog-friendly events sponsored by the H-F Park District, contact Devin Frendreis at [email protected] or Zachary Kerby at [email protected].