By the time of the Spring Blossom Parade in early May, Brown County’s first public dog park could be open.

Polly’s Dog Park is planned to go on land at the south end of Jefferson Street, behind CVS in Nashville. A nonprofit group, Friends of Jefferson Street Park, purchased the 1.75-acre parcel last year from Cindy David and Bob Vernon.

The first of two fundraisers will take place Friday, March 8 to help gather the remaining money owed for the land. Singer-songwriter and actor Tim Grimm will perform with his wife, Jan, and sons, Connor and Jackson, starting at 7:30 p.m. at the Brown County Playhouse. Tickets are $27.50, available at the Playhouse.

Another fundraiser will take place in August at the park. It will be a Giving Dinner, in which guests enjoy a meal in exchange for a donation to a cause.

The land is being developed in two parts. Looking at it from the parking lot at the end of Jefferson, the left side, nearest the creek, will be the dog park. It will be divided into two fenced areas, for small dogs and for large dogs, said Wanda Jones, president of the new Jefferson Street Park Association.

This part of the park will be called Polly’s Dog Park. It’s named after a person who was special to Howard Hughes. Hughes was a major donor through his estate’s caretaker, Marcia Likens, Jones said. Other significant backers have included Jenny Johnson, Ruth Reichmann, the Werling family, the Brown County Humane Society and the Brown County Community Foundation, she said.

The dog park will be handicap-accessible, with paved walkways. Visitors will be able to let their dogs off the leash inside the fenced areas. The concept is based on the Ferguson dog park in Bloomington, she said.

The other part of the park is being planned with Keep Brown County Beautiful. It will “basically be a nature preserve,” Jones said.

“This park is really going to be open to everyone.”

The name for the nature preserve part of the park hasn’t been determined yet; right now it’s known as the Jefferson Street Park.

Jones expects construction on the dog park portion to start in April and for it to take about a month to complete.

Updates will be shared on the Facebook page “Polly’s Dog Park.”

Donations can be made through the Brown County Community Foundation by mentioning “Polly’s Dog Park” or “Jefferson Street Park.”

“We’re targeting, hoping that by the weekend of the Spring Blossom Parade (May 4), we’ll be up and going,” Jones said.