Fairground Park: What the Signs Say

The signs in the first two images reveal one of the first challenges to conversations about Fairground Park. The first image is on a grassy island in the middle of Kossuth Avenue at its intersection with Prarie Avenue. Only half a block west, visitors will pass the pillar in the second image, at the intersection of Fair and Kossuth Avenues. It reads "Fairground Park".

Depending on the source that you consult, the park is called either Fairground or Fairgrounds Park. The largest sign that identifies the park is at the entrance at the intersection of Vandeventer and Natural Bridge and it reads “Welcome to Fairground Park.” The city’s website for the park identifies it as Fairground, but the identification of the park as Fairgrounds, as opposed to Fairground, in first image above and the city’s signage for the lake below reveal official ambivalence about something as seemingly straightforward as the park’s name.