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! :-)

Great spot to let the dog off the hook! Not a lot of parking. Not particularly attractive, but my dog doesn't care.
There is a homeless presence, but no one bothered us.

There is a great community of regulars at this dog park. All are welcome, and there seem to be a lot of young people and young, large, dogs.

The park has wood chips, grass, trees, a big hill, and water fountain for people and dogs. Also a picnic bench. The area around the water fountain is usually wet or flooded due to a poor drainage system.

This park also seems to get some tourists traveling with their dogs. Always be cautious and vigilant with new dogs.

My pup says it's a "must stop" on our walks along the river. Water and a cool place in the shade to play.

A kind friendly dog park. Great people and a good park with some trees and grass

Great safe place for my dogs to run around for a while.

Dogs and their peeps are great.

Safe and reliable it is.

Loved it!

Nice dog park