Final five names chosen in contest to name new Don River park

It will be the heart of Toronto’s newest neighbourhood and now the park being created at the base of the Don River will soon have a name.

The public has the chance to choose from a selection of five names after 448 were submitted as part of a contest.  Voting for the “Name That Park” contest will take place until May 17.  The moniker with the most votes will win.

Here are the final five names to choose from according to a press release from Waterfront Toronto:

• 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.”

“We’re extremely pleased that so many people are participating in the contest to help us name this spectacular new park,” said John Campbell, President and CEO of Waterfront Toronto. “It’s a reminder of how important the waterfront is for the entire city and how much the public values vibrant parks and public spaces.”

A portion of the West Don Lands is being developed for the Toronto 2015 Pan American Games to use for the Athletes’ Village.  Construction of the park started in September 2010.  It will be a 7.3 hectare space in the heart of the city.  Contest organizers are looking for a name that will reflect the park’s unique setting.