Columbiana County 4-H member creates community dog park

Eleven-year-old McKenzie Paskevitch creator of Columbiana County's first dog park.

4-H is an organization dedicated to serving your club, community, country, and world. Members accomplish these goals through a variety of projects, including both club projects and personal projects. 

Eleven-year-old McKenzie Paskevitch is taking her 4-H project to the community level. Paskevitch loves animals and has two dogs that she enjoys walking and taking to the park. However, her hometown in Columbiana County doesn’t have its own dog park, which is what inspired her idea for her 4-H project. 

Paskevitch noticed that there are also a lot of other people who own dogs in her community with nowhere to exercise them. This led her to the idea of building a dog park for her entire community to use. After discussing her plans with the community, Paskevitch was able to secure a 2-acre site that will be used for the park. She is currently in the fundraising and planning phase, one of the most important steps in this process. 

“The biggest thing that I’ve learned is that it’s a lot of hard work and there are lots of steps to follow,” said Paskevitch. “I have also learned to be patient.” 

While the dog park will be a great addition to the community, Paskevitch is also working to support her community through her fundraisers. One of her upcoming fundraisers will be hosted at a local brewery with local food and ice cream trucks, as well as a bake sale with all the baked goods being made by local 4-H families. 

The decision to host all local businesses was important to Paskevitch because she wants to make sure that she is supporting people within her community and helping new businesses grow. 

If you are interested in supporting Paskevitch’s fundraising efforts, be sure to attend her event on Thursday, May 26, from 6–9 p.m. at Ill Will Brewing in Columbiana.