GREENFIELD – Nineteen collars and more than a few tears were left behind after the dedication of Baker’s Rainbow Bridge last weekend in Beckenholt Park.
This colorful memorial was built to give pet owners a place to memorialize their lost pets by wearing a collar on the rainbow bridge. The rainbow bridge represents the place between heaven and earth where pets wait to be reunited with their owners.
About 150 people showed up for the bridge’s dedication Saturday afternoon under clear blue skies.
Lisa Sears, an art teacher at Greenfield Central High School, put the finishing touches on the artwork at Rainbow Bridge. Pet lovers gathered over the weekend for the unveiling of Beckenholt Park’s Rainbow Bridge, designed as a memorial to lost pets. October 15, 2024. Tom Russo | Daily Reporter
“I couldn’t have asked for a better day,” said Greenfield Park assistant director Julie Patterson, who hung a memorial collar for her dog Cocoa.
Dawn Hanson, a Greenfield woman who helped raise money for the local parks department to build the bridge, addressed the crowd at the dedication ceremony.
“This is so much more than I expected. It’s really beautiful,” she said.
Lisa Sears, an art teacher at Greenfield Central High School, put the finishing touches on the artwork at Rainbow Bridge. Pet lovers gathered over the weekend for the unveiling of Beckenholt Park’s Rainbow Bridge, designed as a memorial to lost pets. October 15, 2024. Tom Russo | Daily Reporter
Hanson described how she and her husband drove nearly nine hours to visit Rainbow Bridge in Lake Lure, North Carolina, after their dog, Baker, suddenly passed away in March. She said it was the closest Rainbow Bridge she could find at the time.
On Saturday, attendees held a moment of silence in memory of the hurricane victims and the Lake Lure bridge destroyed by Hurricane Helen in late September.
Hanson said pet owners appreciate having a place in Greenfield to honor their furry loved ones, who many consider part of the family.
She predicts pet lovers will drive long distances to visit the new bridge in Hancock County, just as it took about a nine-hour drive to get to the Rainbow Bridge in Lake Lure.
Patterson said Baker’s Rainbow Bridge, named after Hanson’s beloved Boston terrier, is the only bridge she knows in the Midwest.
Dawn and Robert Hanson attended the dedication of Baker’s Rainbow Bridge at Beckenholt Park on Saturday, October 19th. The couple revealed they drove nearly nine hours to visit Rainbow Bridge in North Carolina in March. Because it was the closest Rainbow Bridge I could find. To mourn a beloved dog who passed away suddenly. Posted photo
She thanked the Hancock County Tourism and Tourism Authority for donating $5,000 to the project.
“I think it’s going to be a tourist destination,” said Patterson, who plans to hold a pet memorial ceremony there every year.
She said Park Operations Manager Josh Gentry helped build the bridge and local artist Lisa Sears painted the accompanying mural, which features pet names and portraits painted on a concrete wall near the bridge. He admitted that he generated funds from pet owners who paid to receive them.
The bridge is 16 feet long, 6 feet wide, and 5 feet high, and includes a chain fence where visitors can hang their pet collars.
Patterson said the parks department plans to add landscaping and other finishing touches to complete the project.
She is asking the public to hang a collar for a deceased pet at any time on the bridge at 2770 N. Franklin St., just north of Rover’s Run Bark Park in Beckenholt Park.
Mural spots are still available and owners can have their pet’s likeness painted for $300 to support the bridge.
For more information, call 317-477-4340 or email (email protected).
Lisa Sears, an art teacher at Greenfield Central High School, put the finishing touches on the artwork at Rainbow Bridge. Pet lovers gathered over the weekend for the unveiling of Beckenholt Park’s Rainbow Bridge, designed as a memorial to lost pets. October 15, 2024. Tom Russo | Daily Reporter
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