Should the Olympia Armory go by a new name? Plus two more park names to be reconsidered
Olympia officials are nearing the end of a months-long process to rename three parks properties, something Parks, Arts and Recreation Director Paul Simmons said the city doesn’t do very often.
The Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee was set to discuss the renaming of the Olympia Armory, Yelm Highway Community Park and Kaiser Woods Park at its meeting Jan. 16, but it was postponed until Feb. 20.
Simmons said the top suggestions are: The Daley Creative Arts Campus at the Armory, named after former Olympia Mayor Bill Daley; Strawberry Fields Community Park was chosen for the Yelm Highway site, which has been the site for U-pick strawberries for decades; and McMillan Trails Park for the Kaiser site.
Simmons said there haven’t been many instances in his more than 11 years with the city that they’ve renamed parks properties. Rebecca Howard Park received its name in 2021. Squaxin Park had been named Priest Point Park for decades before it was renamed in 2022.
He said when the city purchases a property, they give it a working name, often based on an adjacent road or landmark. That’s how Yelm Highway Community Park and Kaiser Woods got their names.
“And then with the armory, everyone’s known it as the Olympia Armory,” Simmons said. “And actually, if you look at the name suggestions we got when we solicited the community for names, the Olympia Armory was one of the top names, because people just are good with continuing to call it that.”
Simmons said once a property gets to the development phase, it goes through a formal naming process.
“So these three properties are on the verge of development and being open permanently, and so we were going through the naming process as talked about in the ordinance,” he said.
Simmons said the city launched the process to gather name suggestions from the public in September 2024. He said staff reached out to local organizations and neighborhood associations, as well as the Squaxin Island Tribe.
He said the armory received 47 suggestions, Yelm Highway received 28 and Kaiser Woods received 26. Then the advisory committee held a public hearing on Oct. 17 to choose one suggestion for each property.
Simmons said staff heard from the public that renaming these properties shouldn’t be rushed.
“It’s important to get the name right, and given that we don’t go through this process a lot, we just want to take our time and make sure we’re considering all the information, and really spending some good time with our advisory committee, as well as the community, as we continue to work through this,” he said.
“I think it’s important that we all feel good about the recommendation and that the PRAC feels good about the recommendation as they advance it forward, and so we’ll continue to work on it.”
Following the Feb. 20 advisory committee meeting, the name suggestions will be forwarded to the City Council for further discussion.
Process of the Species gets Armory access
Eli Sterling, creator of the Procession of the Species that happens each spring, announced Jan. 18 that event organizers and creators will have access to the entire Armory annex building as well as all of the downstairs bays to prepare for this year’s event.
The group first started using the Armory last year to create and store artist creatures, but was limited in the amount of space they could use.
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