Pfingst Animal Acres Park — Attraction in Lake Forest Park

This small neighborhood park is a favorite among local dog walkers: We saw maybe a dozen of them when we stopped by on a Sunday afternoon for a quick picnic. The park has flowers and native plants for every season, but spring is especially lovely. There are several handicap parking places on level ground, but some of the upfront parking spots aren't level, so watch your step getting in/out of your vehicle. The park seems bigger on the map because it's divided by a stream, and only half the park is accessible to humans. It comprises a sloped grassy field, which is popular for local (smaller) events like musical performances. There's a drinking fountain, which was thankfully turned on during our last visit, and it included a dog-level water dish. An on-site Honey Bucket is sized for handicap use but it's a tight fit if you're using a rollator or wheelchair. For a nice walk (sloped, but pretty much all accessible to wheeled devices), check out the short dirt walking path which encircles the (open half of the) park. A smaller, very short cutoff path heads down to the creek on the southern side but it's only accessible to walking humans and dogs. While this park is genealogy a happy meeting spot, please keep your dog on a leash here. The site has multiple picnic tables, most of them have an extension of the table for use by people who being their own chairs. We love this little park and...

Says they are open 24 HOURS on Google & on the website, but they are in fact not.. they close the park at dark.. the police will come & question you and give you a ticket for trespassing regardless of what it says online as there’s a sign, barely marked in small writing that says they close at dusk. I personally am not from the area so I had no idea… and I’m a bit taken aback I got a ticket for sitting in my car after park “hours” didn’t even get out of my car the whole time I was there.. could be a beautiful place but I hope nobody else makes the same mistake I did! DO NOT COME HERE...

Beautiful. However. Be alert the fencing is corral fencing and there are plenty of openings for your dog to escape the park. Also, beware of the mean old guys with dogs on leash. I ran into 2 of them yesterday, and they really upset me. They will lecture you that the park is not off-leash. They will not let your dog play with theirs. They will threaten that their dog will attack your dog if you don't walk away. They will fail to identify a harmless playful puppy and claim it is a vicious dog. I am attaching a picture of my pup, so you can see he's just...