Name Change for Ascarate Park. Any Suggestions?

It’s being reported that El Paso County Commissioners might be considering a name change for El Paso’s historic Ascarate Park.

To be clear: Judge Ricardo Samaniego emphatically said, “We (would) never touch the name “Ascarate” ”.  Further, Commissioner David Stout who represents the area where Ascarate Park is located said, “This is the first time I’m hearing about the idea”.

So, it’s looking like the “name change” part of the story may be a little “clickbaity” if you know what I mean.

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What Commissioners Court ACTUALLY talked about was a plan to renovate and upgrade the park and…MAYBE…changing the name of Ascarate Golf Course. Judge Samaniego floated the idea of renaming the course for the late Federal Judge Philip Martinez.

Ascarate Park is named after Mexican General Juan Ascarate and his family who once owned the land. The land has been used as an El Paso park since 1940.  Other than the Rio Grande (occasionally) and its various canals and branches (also, occasionally) the Ascarate Lake is pretty much the only place you can do any fishing inside the city limits.

Western Playland, El Paso’s only amusement park was located at Ascarate Park from 1960 to 2006. It moved to Sunland Park New Mexico over a disagreement about taxes with the county. Since it left, Ascarate has never been quite the same and, if we’re being 100% honest, neither has Western Playland.

But, since we’re talking about name changes, let’s open up the floor to suggestions. While there are many, many great El Pasoans that parts of the park COULD be named for, I suggest we do what pro-sports franchises have done for years: sell off the naming rights to the highest bidder. That way would help fund all the improvements to the park that we’ve been hearing about for all these years.

Here, I’ll get the ball rolling:

-Southwest University Lake

-The Fred Loya Insurance Softball Field

-The Johnson Jewelers Hiking Trail

-The Charlie Clark Nissan Aquatic Center

-The Alon/7-11 Toll Booth

-The Delta Nine (Sponsored by Delta Eight, available now at Legacy Wellness CBD)

The revenue-generating possibilities are endless.