Ada Riggs Park?: Ada County, Expo Idaho considering multiple names for new park

There is power in a name. The Ada County Commissioners and Expo Idaho are trying to find the right one for their newest park.

The Ada County Commissioners met with county staff, Expo Idaho Director Bob Batista, and CLM Marketing and Advertising Director Becki Woodbury on Wednesday to discuss potential new names for The Park at Expo Idaho.

The county has been working on the park for several years and plans to fund the majority of the park with American Rescue Plan Act money. As previously reported, concepts for the park include restoring natural ecosystems on the park grounds, having multiple raised levels, or “ridges” within the park, multi-use pathways, and playgrounds for children. In a press release Friday, the county announced construction on the park could begin as early as December.

While it has been colloquially called The Park at Expo Idaho, an official name has yet to be set.

“There was a point where we had some discussion about the name of the park,” Batista said to the commissioners. “And I brought to you the fact that we have a marketing company that does this all the time in different forms and fashions and done a lot of work for us and I thought it was a good exercise to at least explore some other possibilities of a name”

Main contenders

A shortlist of eight potential park names was discussed in the meeting.

The Park at Expo Idaho was the first on the shortlist. This is what the park has been called for a while now. Woodbury described it as “straightforward” “functional” and “utilitarian.”

Explorer Park was the first alternative on the shortlist of names CLM and Expo Idaho explored. Woodbury said it captured the park’s purpose to foster “a spirit of adventure and discovery among visitors.” She and Batista said they also liked how “Explorer” feeds well into “Expo.”

Blue Ribbon Park was next on the list. Woodbury said this name was chosen because it gives a good nod to the history of the park. The land where the park will stand was previously a horse racing venue, and each year competitors at the Western Idaho State Fair come to Expo Idaho in hopes of bringing home a blue ribbon for their fair entries.

Preservation Park was suggested as a name that reflects the ecological mission of the park in restoring once-lost ecosystems to the area.

In line with many major parks in the area that get their names from prominent women figures in the community, Ada Riggs Park was also suggested as a potential name for the park at Expo Idaho. Ada Riggs was the daughter of Idaho Territorial Legislator H.C. Riggs, who was one of the founders of Boise. She is the namesake of Ada County, the jurisdiction that will run this park.

Another family name was used in the idea for Kent Park. Expo Idaho sits on the former Kent Homestead. There is also a Kent Street named after the family nearby. Woodbury said this name would both be a nod to the geography and history of the area.

The name River Ridge Park was suggested as a way to describe the defining geographical features of the park

And finally, the last name on the shortlist was Expo Outdoors, which CLM’s presentation materials said would allow for a “seamless” integration with the rest of the Expo Idaho campus, it would also tie into the Expo Idaho branding. 

“Those are just some of the names that came to the top,” Woodbury said. “We felt like we needed to have a really deep exploration of at least consideration before it gets finalized.”

Dozens of other names were considered for the park but did not make the shortlist, such as Les Bois Park. Woodbury and Batista said they considered it but believed the direct tie to the horse racing track could re-upset people who are sad the racing doesn’t exist anymore and the time of Les Bois had “run its course.”

When asked about a needed timeline for the park name, Ada County Senior Project Manager Josh Brown said the county is in the middle of preparing construction documents for the park. The documents have to be ready in the next two months. 

The commissioners did not discuss their thoughts on the names very much during the meeting and said they wanted to get the Western Idaho Fair Board’s input on the names before making a decision. Batista said he would put the discussion on the board’s June agenda.