Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Park Naming topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Park board seeks names and historic kiosks; historical society offers research
Summary
The board opened a public discussion on official park names and interpretive kiosks; Diane of the local historical society offered digitized newspaper research and suggested names tied to local history and Horseshoe Bend, and the board agreed to develop recommendations by the next meeting on Aug. 13, 2025.
The Benton City Park Board opened a broad discussion on formally naming parks and placing interpretive kiosks in historically significant locations.
Diane, president of the Benton City Historical Society, presented research from digitized newspapers dating back to 1911 and recommended historic names and larger kiosks at select parks. “So I'm the president of the Benton City Historical Society,” Diane said, and she offered the board a citation list and digital records she compiled to help identify historically meaningful names and to support signage or kiosks explaining why each park was named.
Board members discussed naming approaches—historical figures, regional place names (for example Horseshoe Bend / Kiona), or functional names tied to location or activity—and agreed a mix of approaches could work. The Chair said the board will consolidate recommendations by email and bring a draft to the next meeting for final review.
The Chair proposed and set the board's next meeting for Aug. 13, 2025; members agreed staff would circulate Diane's citations and add notes from the meeting to the draft so members could vote on recommendations ahead of that meeting.
Additional topics discussed in this thread included proposals for kiosks, involvement of the high school shop class to fabricate signs, and small interpretive projects that could be completed quickly to show progress while larger naming decisions are finalized.
