Banks City Councilors pushed a decision out for a name for a new park that will be built as part of the Sunset View development.
A survey released by the city to gather name suggestions yielded the top result. Thirty-four respondents went for the suggested name of Wilkes City Park. Forty-five people had other suggestions, with a wide spread of names like Sunset View Park, a name immediately discarded due to name similarities with Sunset Park, a nonprofit-owned property already in city limits.
Other name suggestions sought to honor current and past city leaders, local Indigenous tribes, and more.
Councilors have to address the issue as construction is fast approaching. “They’re looking at building it some time later this summer,” said Banks City Manager Jolynn Becker.
The council is considering a historic district that would utilize the Wilkes name, an early pioneer family in the Banks area, and so determined that they would discard that name.
The discussion eventually settled on a decision to find five names that were confirmed not to conflict with planned street names and consider a decision at a later date. Several names likely won’t make the cut, though: I Bulldozed the Wilkes House Park, Parky McParkface, Screwed Over The City Park, and Teardown Banks Park didn’t seem to garner support.
