Name that Park, a contest being run in partnership between Waterfront Toronto and the Grid, has opened its public voting round to determine the name of Toronto's newest waterfront park.
The park, currently known as the Don River park simply due to geography, sits on 18 acres of property between Bayview Avenue and the GO/CN railroad lines, from King Street to the rail corridor. 448 suggested names were submitted to the Grid's contest last month before five names were shortlisted by a selection committee consisting of community representatives, The shortlist was then reviewed by the City of Toronto Parks, Forestry and Recreation Department "to ensure the proposed names meet the city's naming policies," a press release said.
Voters can vote on any of the below names until May 16 at midnight.
The five names are:
Ataratiri Park: Ataratiri (pronounced "a-tar-a-TEER-y") is a Huron-Wendat word meaning "supported by clay." That's fitting, because the park is built on top of a clay flood protection landform that will prevent downtown Toronto from flooding during a major storm event in the Don Watershed. If Ataratiri sounds familiar, that's because it was also the name for a previous plan for the area.
Corktown Common: "Corktown" for the larger neighbourhood the park will form a new part of—a neighbourhood named to honour the Irish workers who settled there after their country's famine—and "Common" because it will belong to everyone. Corktown Common would be the second of two recent east-end parks to share the "Common" designation: nearby Sherbourne Common opened in 2010.
Don River Park: As a park running alongside the 38-kilometre-long Don River, Don River Park as a name doesn't need much in the way of explanation: it would be called what it is - a park designed to celebrate its location in one of Toronto's most significant watersheds. (And it would get to keep Waterfront Toronto's working name for it.)
King's Reserve: King's Park, stretching from Berkeley Street to Queen Street East to the Don River, was one of two reserves set out by Lt.-Gov. John Graves Simcoe for public use when the Town of York was founded in 1793. (The other, on the western end of town, was the Garrison Reserve.)
Wonscotonach Park: Before Lt.-Gov. John Graves Simcoe renamed it after England's River Don in the 18th century, the river that abuts the park was called Wonscotonach (pronounced Waw-sco-taw-NAWSH) by Mississaugas of New Credit First Nation people. In her diary at the time, Elizabeth Simcoe wrote that the word meant "back burnt grounds," though some scholars prefer "burning bright point."
Vote on your favourite name
here.
Original Source: The Grid