Teen boy scout masterminds dog park in Montevideo
MONTEVIDEO, Minn. — When a small town was looking for a dog park, a high school senior stepped up. Jaxon Wagner made an idea a reality in the town of Montevideo.
"We meet up here every day and they run around like they're crazy," said Mark Christianson.
When it comes to taking the dog for a walk, Mark suddenly has a new option. Instead of heading for the woods, he heads to Wag's Bark Park.
"I can take her out now and she doesn't get cockleburs on her, and mud and I don't get heck from the wife when I get home," said Christianson.
The "Bark Park" just opened but it's already become a destination. And everything you see is the brainchild of Wagner.
"It's been a goal since day one. I didn't think I'd ever make a project his big," said Wagner.
In addition to being an athlete and a musician, Wagner is a boy scout. Knowing that dog parks are hard to come by in small towns, he thought this would make for a great Eagle Scout project.
"Everybody I asked in town was, 'I want a dog park because my dogs need a place to run around and have fun,'" said Wagner.
So he made a blueprint, met with city leaders, secured land and then went to work fundraising.
Wagner raised about $16,000 for most of what he needed for the project. That included 700 feet of fencing, which he also had to learn to install.
"I didn't know anything about fencing. I didn't know how to put up a fence. But now I do. I watched a few YouTube videos and figured it out," said Wagner.
Football teammates and fellow dog lovers helped with the install. After two years of planning and working, the park opened this month. Wagner has about 40 merit badges, but he feels the bark park is where he unleashed his true talents.
"I think it's awesome. I'm really thankful for the whole community and they were a super big help too in this whole process," said Wagner. "It was super fun to do. I learned a lot and got to meet a lot of great people too and I got to experience a lot of things that I never thought I would."
Wagner said he wants to get a master's degree in aerospace engineering when he graduates from Montevideo this spring.