Goat Days Are Coming To LFP

Jack Tonkin, an older gentleman with kind eyes and a quiet demeanor, lights up as he talks about his community involvement.  He’s not the type of man to scream out his enthusiasm but it’s apparent in his eyes and how he quickly moves from his chair to show off his current project.

“We want the city to do well and thrive,” he says as he holds the poster of an endearing looking goat chomping down on some leafy blackberry bushes.

Since late last fall he’s been planning Goat Days. The main event will begin on Saturday, June 18,  at Horizon View Park. The goats will be out eating the bushes daily from noon to 7 p.m. through June 22. A petting area will be set up from 1-3 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

The name itself is catchy and interesting but the story that leads up to the actualization of the event is even more compelling.

Tonkin has been a resident of LFP for nearly 30 years and  a seasoned veteran in life and what it can give and take from you.

After 28 years of running his business, Tonkin Inc, he retired to take on the job as primary care giver to his ailing wife, suffering from Alzheimer's disease.  

“That took a lot of my time,” he said matter-a-factly.

Until recently he was on the board for the Alzheimer’s Association and resigned only because of all the other activities he was involved in.

Community service seems to be his way of taking action and moving past the hard truths in life that can’t be controlled.  

The idea behind Goat Days arose from the campaign ‘No Prop One’ that he was heavily involved in last August.

“The city had allowed itself to grow to the degree that the burden of its growth was beyond our capacity to pay for it,” he said. 

Tonkin and a group of other volunteers got behind the ‘No Prop One” campaign and on Aug. 17, 2010 defeated the proposition with a 78 percent majority. 

A letter from the LFP mayor, Dave Hutchinson, revealed the hard truth that an estimated $692,000 deficit for the year 2011 will affect police, courts, parks and other basic services.

The city’s revenues were shrinking and continuing to shrink so it was pretty easy to see that when some tough decisions were to be made parks would be the last to receive funding, if any at all.  

“We couldn’t volunteer as police, however we could do work in the parks,” Tonkin said. 

Tonkin and volunteers were shown by Frank Zenk, the Director of Parks for LFP, what work needed to be done at each of the six city parks. They were not allowed to use power tools but only their hands, rakes, and shovels.

When they arrived at Horizon View Park, Zenk looked over the hill and saw all the blackberry bushes. He mentioned to Tonkin that he thought it would be nice to get rid of some of the bushes and enlarge the park.

The idea struck Tonkin as an interesting problem to solve. When he returned home he searched the Net and found Healing Hooves located in Edwall, Wash. The company dedicates all of its efforts to natural vegetation and weed control using goats and sheep. 

Tonkin contacted the owner, Craig Madson, and inquired about the blackberry bush issue. 

Madson visited the park and reassured Tonkin he’d found the right man.  The job was not a small one and would require 250 of his goats to chomp down the bushes to their roots. The feast could take up to 4 to 5 days and require volunteers to pull up the roots to finally kill off the bushes.

“Let’s build a campaign around the event to raise awareness to volunteer, to help and preserve parks,” Tonkin declared.

They needed a catchy name and that was easy to come by considering the novelty of having 250 goats at a suburban park. They also wanted to use the event to raise money for the Lake Forest Park Stewardship Foundation.

One of the main things the Stewardship Foundation partakes in is preserving parks and open spaces. They collect any money made from an event and put it in a park fund. If a park’s department needs something done they can petition the Stewardship Foundation. If they decide to release the funds, they make sure the project is done correctly.

With the Stewardship foundation on board, Tonkin now needed to figure out how to raise money and get people to the event.

The event already was fun and unique so he stayed with that general feeling, creating a fair like atmosphere with a petting zoo, face painting, and coloring for the kids.

He also wanted to include the merchants of LFP, so he developed a coupon program involving 28 merchants. Each merchant put out a particular offer around Goat Days. The coupons are worth hundreds of dollars. 

“If you’ll adopt a goat for $10 you get $100 worth of coupons, plus you get a bar of goat soap and signed autograph picture from Billy the goat,” Tonkin said holding up a small bag full of goodies. 

He’s also made Goat Day’s T-shirts offered at $10 and posters for people to buy.  

Plus, sponsors have stepped up, including Frank Lumber, Third Place Books and Lake Forest Park Cleaners, located at 17171 Bothell Way NE # A107.

Tonkin said rather seriously that despite all the fun and hard work the ultimate goal is that “people stay in this spirit and volunteer in the park.”