Loveland, Ohio – City Hall has announced that new benches and an agility course are coming to the Matt Haverkamp Foundation Dog Park.
The expected installation is in late August.
These amenities are being purchased from the sale of items from Public Works sale of outdated equipment, vehicles, etc., according to the City Administration.
About the Matt Haverkamp Foundation Dog Park
The approximately two-acre dog park is located at the rear of Kiwanis Park on Wall Street. The dog park is adjacent to the ballfield. The park is entirely fenced and features benches for seating.
The dog park is dedicated to all K9s and their handlers who serve the Loveland community and the Greater Cincinnati area, thanks to The Matt Haverkamp Foundation. Since 2007, the city has worked with The Matt Haverkamp Foundation, a non-profit 501(c)(3) established in remembrance of Golf Manor Police K9 handler Matt Haverkamp. The Foundation provides K9 officers to police agencies around the Tri-State.
The dog park opened in Spring 2022 as a result of resident suggestions to the city’s Recreation Board. The Board moved the project forward with the help of a group of local high school seniors from Tigers Inc., Loveland High School’s nonprofit organization for students with business skill interests.
In 2023, a small dog area and a water source were added to the park.
Dog Park Rules:
1. Use park at your own risk.
2. Owners are legally responsible for the behavior of their dog(s) at all times.
3. Dogs must be leashed while entering and exiting the park.
4. Dog waste must be cleaned up by owners immediately.
5. Owners must be within the dog park and supervising their dog with leash readily available.
6. Dog handlers must be at least 16 years of age.
7. Children under 16 must be accompanied by an adult and supervised at all times.
8. Aggressive dogs must be removed immediately.
9. Dog should be under voice control.
10. Prohibited: Human food, dog food, dog treats, glass containers, dogs in heat, sick dogs, aggressive dogs, puppies (under 4 months old).
David Miller is the managing Editor of Loveland Magazine
by David Miller
Loveland, Ohio – Special events must provide additional accessible parking and restrooms based on the anticipated number of people who will attend. After our request, City Hall has provided Loveland Magazine with some information for persons with a disability who may need parking spots, accessible bathrooms, or shuttle service for the 4th of July event that will be held in Historic Downtown. Loveland Magazine has provided additional information.
• The accessible restrooms at the Loveland Bike Trail will be open at Nisbet Park.
• There will be accessible portable toilets placed along/near the Loveland Bike Trail in the Linda J. Cox Trailside Parking lot, near Browns Crossing, and near Harrison Avenue.
• There will also be added, temporary accessible parking spots along the Loveland Bike Trail near Nisbet Park.
• The shuttle service to the festival is not accessible for persons with a disability.
Here is the guide to the day’s activities
Railroad Avenue will be temporarily closed from 2 PM until 11 PM to through traffic on July 4th. There will also be a temporary road closure along the parade route from approximately 6:30 PM until 8:30 PM.
It proceeds north on Loveland-Madeira Road to West Loveland Avenue.
The parade ends at West Loveland Avenue and the State Route 48/Second Street intersection.
West Loveland Avenue will be closed from Riverside Drive to Karl Brown Way During the fireworks from approximately 10 PM until 10:30 PM.
Parking Restrictions
Some parking will be restricted due to parade and shuttle routes. Some parking spaces will be affected on the following streets:
West Loveland Avenue in Historic Downtown
Park Avenue
Riverside Drive
Third Street
Railroad Avenue
Harrison Avenue
Kiwanis Park, including the Matt Haverkamp Foundation Dog Park, will be closed to event parking. In addition, the dog park will close at noon on July 4.
Parking in Historic Downtown
The city operates more than 10 free public lots. View parking map.
Parking fees will be waived in the City Hall/Works lot on July 4.
Keep in mind there are also private lots throughout Historic Downtown and fees may be charged.
Right Click to Enlarge Map
Shuttle
There are FREE shuttle rides that will run continuously from 4 PM until 11 PM.
The shuttle is not accessible to persons with a handicap.
Park-and-ride shuttle locations will be at Loveland High School (1 Tiger Trail) and the Loveland Early Childhood Center (6740 Loveland-Miamiville Road). Drop-off locations will be at Riverside Drive (near Veterans’ Memorial) and Third Street (near Whistle Stop Clay Works).
A free concert by the band, Pandora Effect be at the Nisbet Park Amphitheater from 8 PM until 10 PM. The band played in the FanZone at GABP when the Atlanta Braves were in town for a sold-out game.
Lawn Games — 4 PM until 6:30 PM— Fountain Greene (Near Fleet Feet)
NEST Community Learning Center will host lawn games.
Yankee Doodle Dog Show — 4 PM— Nisbet Park
Meet at 3:45 PM at the Clock Tower in Downtown Loveland (near the Bike Trail crossing). Dogs will parade toward Nisbet Park at 4 PM. Three dogs will be selected as best-dressed winners and will receive a prize basket from Pet Wants.
Water Zone — 4 PM until 8 PM— City Hall Lawn
There will be a giant inflatable water slide and misting fans, plus a splash station for little ones.
Food Trucks — 4 PM until 10 PM
Food truck vendors will be available throughout the downtown area.
Bingo — 5 PM & 8:30 PM — City Hall
Take a break from the heat to play a few cards of bingo! An afternoon and evening session will be held. Prizes for game winners. Monetary donations will be accepted with all proceeds going toward the Ben Morrison Memorial Fund, which provides scholarships to Loveland High School seniors.
Kids’ Bike Contest —6:15 PM— Loveland Elementary School
Decorate your bike/scooter/tricycle for the holiday, and meet at Loveland Elementary School (600 Loveland-Madeira Road) to take part in this annual tradition. Children will gather and then take part in the parade at 7 PM. Trailside Provisions has donated prizes for the top 3 entries.
Pie Eating Contest — 8:30 PM — Little Miami Conservancy at Nisbet Park (Little Miami Scenic River and Trail Center)
There is an online signup to help gauge interest. Pre-register if you would like to participate.
Loveland, Ohio – A dog water fountain is being installed at the fenced dog park located in Kiwanis Park on Wall Street in the West Loveland Historic District. Work continued today laying the pipe that extends from the ballfield to the dog park at opposite end of the park.
The Purina Foundation awarded the city $11,545 towards the installation of a dog water fountain to be installed in the Matt Haverkamp Foundation Dog Park.
The dog park opened in Spring 2022 at 236 Wall Street at the rear of Kiwanis Park.
The approximately two-acre dog park is located at the rear of Kiwanis Park. The dog park is adjacent to the JT Stottman Ballfield. The park is entirely fenced and features benches for seating.
The concrete pad for a new dog water fountain inside the Haverkamp Foundation Dog Park in Kiwanis Park on Wall Street.
Loveland, Ohio – To prepare for the City’s Independence Day Celebration, the Matt Haverkamp Foundation Dog Park (located at Kiwanis Park) will close at noon on Monday, July 4.
Loveland Magazine Publisher and Editor David Miller
Loveland, Ohio – It was a chance encounter meeting Dave McGaughy, Jessie, and Murphy at Kiwanis Park Friday morning as I was heading back to the office from the bank. Instead of turning left into the Farm, I thought, “Oh, I wonder if they are installing the fencing in the new dog park,” I thought if the fence installers were there working it would make for a follow-up to the story I wrote last week announcing the dog play area. (Loveland’s first dog park coming soon to the West Loveland Historic District) I turned right – into Kiwanis Park in the West Loveland Historic District.
The original story I wrote two weeks ago announcing that Loveland would soon open its first dog park was very popular with readers so I knew they were excited about the park and would be interested in reading about any progress about when it would open. Instead of installers, I encountered Dave, Jessie, and Murphy heading into the now completely fenced-in dog park.
Dave, it turns out is quite the expert on dog parks and told me all about the local ones, from Miami Township to Mason. He went into detail about what he thinks makes a good one and talked about some in Florida he visits.
Dave declared the Kiwanis Park dog park the best he’s ever taken “his boys” to and was interested to know how he could volunteer to help maintain it. He has experience volunteering at other dog parks.
Dave lives just outside of Loveland in Goshen Township and was very pleased that the “best” place to take his dogs was so close to home. Dave is a retired custodian at the Loveland Primary/Elementary Campus.
Loveland, Ohio – Kiwanis Park on Wall Street in the West Loveland Historic District has been chosen as a site for the City’s first dog park. The dogs and their owners will be able to play in a soon-to-be-fenced area that is behind, and over the hill, from the youth ballfield at the park. Preparations have been made such as a concrete pad for a gate and the City has contracted with The Fence Company on East Kemper Road for fencing.
Parking is also close to the ballfield and will be convenient for puppies and their moms and dads. The dog park sits on the bank of the State and National Scenic Little Miami River.
The new dog park is on the bank of the State and National Scenic Little Miami River.
Cassie Mattia is the Associate Editor of Loveland Magazine and lives in Historic Downtown.
by Cassie Mattia
Loveland, Ohio – Loveland videographer Bob Kessler wanted to get a unique perspective of this year’s 4th of July fireworks by getting up close and personal with the launch zone! Kessler was able to not only show the launch of the fireworks but the explosions as well in one wide-angle shot. Loveland Magazine and Kessler teamed up this year for the 4th so that he could receive credentials to be on the actual launch site. By doing this, Kessler was able to witness the firework preparations and be there when the fuses were lit.
Loveland’s and Symmes Township’s annual Independence Day celebrations were canceled this year, however, the City and Township were able to hold two simultaneous, “park and watch” firework shows on Saturday, July 4th.
Kessler positioned himself at Loveland’s launch site inside Philips Park which was closed to the public for the day. Symmes Park, which was also closed to the public for the day, acted as the launchpad for the Township.
Kessler explained that previously he shot video from various street views in Downtown Loveland and on the bridge of the Little Miami River. Typically, Loveland launches its annual show from inside Kiwanis Park on Wall Street but, this year, because of COVID 19 the City was concerned about having thousands of people crowd into Historic Downtown, which is known as the best viewing spot for the fireworks. City Hall ended up deciding to move the launch to a higher location in order to take advantage of the area’s church and school parking lots. Spectators were either encouraged to watch the shows, drive-in movie style and practice social distancing, or residents who lived near the parks were asked to stay at home to enjoy the show. Those that decided to watch the fireworks from their cars went to Loveland High School, Home of the Brave Park, church parking lots, and surrounding subdivisions while of course remaining socially distant.
Kessler told us that the launch locations were chosen to accommodate the use of larger shells, which go higher into the air and allow spectators to watch from a much wider area.
Here is Kessler’s favorite still shot from his vantage point at the launch pad inside Phillips Park. “This is my favorite picture from the batch I shot last night. I was about 250′ from the launch site, behind the exhibitors running the show. Nikon D850, 14mm, ISO 400, f/10, 8 seconds,” said Bob Kessler.
Kessler said he was excited about the addition of a second launch site at Symmes Park this year.
“The second launch site promised to make for a unique experience. That’s why I settled on Phillips Park as the best location for me to photograph both stills and video images.”
Dave Miller, Loveland Magazine’s Editor-in-Chief, covered the wide shots from the top of the stands at LHS’s stadium where he was able to view both Loveland’s and Symmes’ fireworks. He used two cameras, one acted as a live feed so LOVELAND MAGAZINE TV could have a live broadcast of the shows.
Kessler and Miller were in constant communication in the days leading up to the show as times and locations rapidly changed with not much notice to the public. Luckily Loveland Magazine had a firework “inside man,” which allowed us to communicate quick and accurate firework updates to the public.
A few minutes before launch time Kessler sent a message to Miller saying, “I passed the cop-test. The patrol came through and the Rozzi guy said, ‘He’s with us!”
Some of the camera equipment Bob Kessler used at the launch site of the Loveland Fireworks show.
Loveland was the first to set off their rockets, then Symmes followed shortly after. Each firework show lasted about fifteen minutes. After the two shows finished both launch pads put on a simultaneous Grand Finale.
“I first contacted the Loveland Symmes Fire Department about getting permission to be close, as they previously ran the show and knew me and my work with Loveland Magazine,” Kessler explained, “I then approached Rozzi’s Famous Fireworks and got the permission of the exhibitor running the show to shoot within the normally closed firing zone.”
Kessler positioned himself in a ditch behind the show operator. Using a wide-angle lens and shooting 4K, he was able to capture a high definition video that allowed him to digitally “zoom-in” on the image without compromising quality. “I concurrently shot digital images with my still camera, the equivalent to an 8K image,” Kessler said.
Kessler experimented with various settings on his camera as the show progressed, mostly shooting still frames at various time exposures of 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 seconds. “All this fussing had to be done quickly, as I knew the show would only last 15-20 minutes. I managed to get about 75 images and several videos,” Kessler said, “Out of that, I ended up with 11 shots that I liked enough to post on Facebook.”
Kessler learned from the Rozzi folks that the firework shells are able to go up to 100′ in the air for each inch of shell diameter. For example, a 4′ shell would go 400′ feet into the air while a 6′ shell would go about 600 feet into the air.
“I always look forward to working with Bob Kessler on video projects because I learn so much,” David Miller said, “My only regret is there wasn’t enough of him to go around that night so he couldn’t be in the stadium with me to adjust my camera. If he could have been there then all I would have had to do was hit the record button. My video would have been so much better!”
Some of the video equipment David Miller used to shoot video and live-stream the fireworks show from the high vantage point of the stands at Tiger Stadium
Miller also said that when Kessler offered to shoot the show he knew that he would expend countless hours readying his equipment and making adjustments. “Doing something like shooting fireworks is seat-of-pants. There are so many variables such as the rapidly setting sun. Will it be completely dark, well it will be if it’s a cloudy day. If the sun is out and going over the horizon which way will it be heading in relation to where the camera is? Fifteen minutes can make a huge difference in the ambient light that time of day,” Miller explained, “Bob sees all these variables in the days before and has the brainpower to take most of the guesswork out of the equation.”
Miller said he really enjoyed watching the evening unfold from the highest elevation in town. “When I got to the stadium there were already about 20 teens playing frisbee football and before the show, someone new showed up with a cooler of water balloons to cool them off with.”
At showtime, many of the teens and some adults joined Miller at the top of LHS’s bleachers to enjoy the vantage point of seeing both shows. “The pre-show of all the neighborhood fireworks displays going off from the high vantage point I had was pretty cool as well,” Miller added.
Did you miss the 4th of July firework shows this year? Well, we have you covered! Click below to relive Bob Kessler’s 4th of July Fireworks video production!
Kessler also produced a short clip of Loveland’s Finale which Loveland Magazine ended up using as an experiment of a “Video Cover Photo”.
Loveland Magazine sends out a special thanks to Rozzi’s Famous Fireworks for giving us access to the launch site and showing us such wonderful hospitality!
Check out these previous firework shows that Bob Kessler produced for Loveland Magazine TV. In this first video from 2015, Bob showed close-ups as the fuses were lit by a crew of Loveland Firefighters in full protective gear. Deputy Fire Chief Don Books talks about the show and how safe it was for the crew.
Loveland, Ohio – A “Community Prayer Event” left Kiwanis Park in the West Loveland Historic District at 7:30 PM this afternoon to walk through the neighborhood and across the Co. Thomas Paxton Bridge to Nisbet Park to pray.
Shane Harden a Co-lead Pastor of Branches Church in Miami Township said that he was inspired by Loveland resident Desmond Gault leading walks in Loveland after the death of George Floyd.
“We wanted to continue to bring our community together to pray.” In a release last week Harden said, “We’ll be praying for a lot of things…like for the Floyd family, for peace in Minneapolis and around the country, and for justice.”
The walks through Loveland neighborhoods organized by Desmon Gault lasted for seven days and were in response to the death of George Floyd who died in police custody on May 25 in the Powderhorn community of Minneapolis, Minnesota.
While Floyd, a Black man was handcuffed and lying face down on a city street during an arrest, Derek Chauvin, a white American Minneapolis police officer, kept his knee on the right side of Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds; according to the criminal complaint against Chauvin, 2 minutes and 53 seconds of that time occurred after Floyd became unresponsive.
Loveland Magazine has moved into the 102-year-old Simpson Farm House at the entrance to the Simpson Farm, a 40-acre Conservation District in the heart of Loveland. We are at 243 Wall Street (Across from Kiwanis Park). We are still in the West Loveland Historic District.
We have greatly expanded outdoor space, expanded office and meeting space and will have a vastly improved and larger LOVELAND MAGAZINE TV studio for recording interviews and public affairs broadcasts.
The Simpson Farm House was built in 1918. Forty acres of the original Simpson Farm became a dedicated Conservation District and part of Phillips Park in the 90s after the City of Loveland purchased the property from the Simpson Family.
Loveland Magazine Publisher David Miller wrote the Conservation District deed restrictions for the property and circulated Initiative Petitions that were approved by Loveland voters 85-15% to ensure it would be protected in perpetuity from development.
• The accessible restrooms at the Loveland Bike Trail will be open at 
![[VIDEO] Meet Dave, Jessie, and Murphy at Loveland’s new Dog Park](https://lovelandmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/feature-Dave-McGaughy.jpg)
![[VIDEO] Bob Kessler gets intimate with 6″ shells on the 4th of July!](https://lovelandmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/feature-kessler-fireworks.jpg)
