Bark Yard dog park planned for Queen City

Dogs and their owners will have a new hangout in mid-2020.

The Bark Yard, a dog park and bar concept, is being planned at the 3000 block of East Cherry Street near U.S. Highway 65 by co-owners Tommy Buterbaugh and Blake Gammon.

The 5-acre lot will include 2 to 3 acres of land designated as a dog park and a 6,000-square-foot building with day care, boarding, an indoor dog park and a bar patio area, Buterbaugh said.

The idea stemmed from the duo’s love for dogs and seeing a need in the Springfield community, he said. The Bark Yard joins Cruse Dog Park, an off-leash dog park that opened in 2008, according to SpringfieldMo.org.

“What we wanted to do was expand on that idea and provide a large outdoor space for people to bring their dogs, especially younger people who live in apartments and don’t have access to a yard to exercise their pets,” Buterbaugh said.

The bar will offer a limited selection of beer and wine from local vendors and an appetizer menu, he said. The dog park and bar patio will require daily, weekly or annual passes. Day care and boarding services will be independent from memberships, he said. Pricing structures have not yet been determined.

“We want to make it a social destination for both dogs and people,” Buterbaugh said.

The Bark Yard plans to hire 20 full- and part-time employees, and Buterbaugh and Gammon will manage the business.

Buterbaugh and Gammon so far has hired St. Louis-based architect Schaub Projects and Ozark-based general contractor Construct LLC, as well as Anderson Engineering Inc. Buterbaugh said a groundbreaking date has not yet been set for the park targeted to open by mid- to late-2020. Project costs were not disclosed.