Mimi De Marta Park

The Mimi De Marta Dog Park is a real gem for dog lovers in Santa Cruz, and pure nirvana for their dogs! I recently took care of a friend's two Basset Hounds (brother and sister--so cute!) for a few weeks and ALL THEY WANTED TO DO was to go play in that park, and it was easy to see why! Every day they made at least one new friend, and each side of the triangular park is tremendously exciting for very different reasons. The first side, where you enter, becomes very exciting once you're inside the park because new doggies appear at random intervals, and provide lots of wonderful new opportunities for butt-sniffing, making new friends, and being reunited with old ones! And then the first very loooooong side to the left is adjacent to a sidewalk, which is itself adjacent to a busy road where traffic often comes to a complete stop while the cars wait for the traffic light. Sometimes when the traffic stops there are doggies in the cars with their noses sticking out the windows and the doggies in the park can bark at them and then run around and tease them because they are free in the park while the doggies in the traffic are stuck in their cars! Lots of people use the sidewalk, and sometimes the doggies like to bark at the ones who have backpacks, but almost all the time they like to bark at the ones who wear trench coats. And of course when the skateboarders go by all the doggies who are paying attention to that side of the park go bananas and have a lot of fun trying to chase them aaaaaaaall the way down to the end of the triangular park. From there doggies can continue along the second looooooooooong side of the park, which is also the third side of the triangle. It runs parallel to the river walk multi-use trail along the top of the river levee. And THIS side is for doggies who need a little more excitement than the first loooooooooooooong side can provide. I mean this side is for the REAL adrenalin junkies in their midst! Along the river walk the doggies can see and try to chase walkers, joggers, bicyclers, unicyclers, surfers carrying their surfboards to the beach, rangers wearing UNIFORMS (Bark! Bark!) while on patrol, skateboarders, water fowl (Bark! Bark!), and lots and lots of ground squirrels (Bark! Bark! Bark! Bark!). You'd think it would be tough to ever get your doggies to leave such a wonderful place, wouldn't you? Interestingly enough, after an hour or so they are ready to go. They come walking up kinda droopy and slow because they are all tuckered out from having so much fun! It's the darnedest thing I ever saw. Until I took care of those Basset Hounds, I never knew that doggies could possibly have too much fun. Hahaha! Once you get a feel for the rhythm of the park, you learn to watch for your doggies getting droopy so you can begin to wrap up any conversations that you might be having with some of the many friends that are so easy to make with the people who frequent the park. I guess it makes sense that dog lovers are such crazy-friendly people and so easy to talk to, but I just never thought about it--again, before I took care of those silly ol' Basset Hounds. I met more interesting people in a shorter amount of time than at any other point in my fifty-eight year old life! Absolutely amazing! Well I could go on and on about this place, but I'll just mention a few more things. For example, the park has a nice safe double-gated entrance with a peg board between the two gates where you can hang your doggies' leashes when you enter, and then pick 'em up again when you leave. And there's a big ol' picnic table where you can sit and read, talk with other folks, or surf the web on your phone while your doggies play themselves into droopiness. Also there is cool, clean water available from a spigot, a nice big trash can, and volunteers keep a dispenser stocked with all kinds of plastic bags in case you forget to bring your own poopie picker-uppers. I told you dog lovers were cool, didn't I? There now, isn't that enough? I mean this dog park rocks! It is indeed a gem in the crown of Santa Cruz! :-)

I like this park because it is convenient to get to, and there is a great group of regular dogs who come here. The ground is mainly covered with wood chips so it gets dusty in the summer. Unfortunately there are lots of dog owners who don't pick up after their pups, so the place does have some land mines.

We bring our grown puppy here regularly and she loves it. Most people who come here regularly are very caring about the experiences of all the dogs, which I think is one of the best attributes of this park. When new people come, they are made to feel welcome, and people watch out for small dogs too, to be sure they have a good experience. Last Fall the City put bark on the ground, but the hillside, with trees, is all grassy, and cool on a hot day, and a breeze comes off the river nearby. In the wet winter the park was still usable when others were closed due to mud. The dogs love to romp around the trees chasing each other, and can get a really good run when chasing balls as the park is long and fully fenced. It is also big enough so people who want to work with their dog on training or fetch can go down to the far end and have more privacy. There is a campground type water spigot, and a bucket of some type is almost always there (though they do get stolen sometimes). There is a picnic table where people sit watching the dogs. But dogs do jump up on it frequently, considering it part of their play area, so not a good place to have lunch! At night, because it is right on Broadway, there is lighting, making it one of the few dog parks that you can see in somewhat after dark. It is fully fenced (with a double entry gate) and it has always felt very safe, even though it is close to the levee, as there are homes right across the cul-de-sac, a full view of it from Broadway, and parking right at the park. Sadly the one problem in spring and summer is not enough dogs go there. With Frederick St park just opening again (May 2019) about half the dogs go there, so there are often not many dogs there, which is too bad. But we love this park, and so does our dog. Please come try it out! :)

Decent dog park next to the Santa Cruz river walk. It's fairly small with trees and tanbark, a picnic table, and a water faucet for the pooches. There's no small dog section -- everyone goes together. I like taking my dog there for a quick romp to get her wiggles out.

Ambience: This park is workable but without grass it's a little less than ideal. It's all one park. There's no section for small dogs vs large dogs. But what's cool is this park has this interesting geometric shape... like that of a rhombus! Amazing! But it makes one think: what does this nonstandard shape do in the dog park when that dog park also contains a vortex? You don't have to be a Michelin 5 star shaman to know that a parallel rhombus introduces areas of stagnant chi! What happens when there's stagnant chi? That's right! a chi-nado!!! Make sure your dog is adequately waited down lest the vortex swoop them up like some Wizard of Oz s&!t 🐕🌪️!! Chin-up. We will get thru this!