Suggestions deriving from historic Argenta, the city's Dogtown nickname and other creative connotations are among 108 entries from North Little Rock residents in a contest to name the city's planned downtown plaza.
The entry deadline was 5 p.m. Friday, after the city accepted online submissions for two months through its website, nlr.ar.gov.
A committee will now whittle those 108 names to five by Jan. 8. A final selection is to be announced Feb. 12. The person who submitted the winning idea will receive two passes for free access to public events at the plaza in its first year of operation.
The plaza, to be along Main Street between Fifth and Sixth streets, is to feature jetted fountains, oxbow-shaped berms and a freestanding water wall, according to a conceptual design Mayor Joe Smith revealed in late September. An anticipated completion date is next December.
The contest was open to all who live in North Little Rock, including residents who are city employees.
"I am pleased with having 106 creative citizens in our community who want to be part of the process," Smith said Friday afternoon before the final two entries were added. "I'll be anxious to get these in front of our committee."
The mayor had said at the beginning of the contest that he hoped for at least 100 entries.
"My goal is to choose the one that would be easiest to market," Smith said. "It's a product and a product to be marketed. That would be my goal."
The selection committee will be Smith; city communications director Nathan Hamilton; North Little Rock Chamber of Commerce President John Owens; Susannah Drake, founding principal of DLANDstudio Architecture and Landscape Architecture in Brooklyn, N.Y., who designed the plaza in conjunction with Taggart Architects of North Little Rock; and a North Little Rock City Council member to be named, Hamilton said.
After the committee agrees on five finalists, those five names will be placed in an online poll Jan. 8-22 for the public to select its preference. However, the mayor and the City Council will make the final decision, by Feb. 12.
"Results from the online poll will be made public but won't be binding," Hamilton said. "We can't take that naming right away from the council."
As expected, there were several repetitions -- mainly relating to the downtown Argenta Historic District -- and similarities among the entries, but also a few unique ones. Four entries weren't accepted on the final list because of profanity, said Hamilton, who oversaw the contest. The last entry arrived at 3:03 p.m. Friday, he said.
"We have a lot of Argenta, a lot of Dogtown and a lot that I don't think we'll use," Hamilton said. "But I am really happy that people are getting involved."
Argenta is the original name of the community that was first known as "Opposite Little Rock," according to city historian Cary Bradburn, then became the Eighth Ward of Little Rock from 1890-1903.
A legislative maneuver in 1903 led by William C. Faucette, who became North Little Rock's first mayor, broke the ward away from Little Rock to merge Argenta with a small North Little Rock community. The Arkansas Supreme Court upheld the merger in 1904 after a court challenge by Little Rock. The name Argenta replaced the North Little Rock name from 1906-17 before changing back to North Little Rock.
Dogtown was a longtime slur toward North Little Rock, a reference to Little Rock residents dumping stray dogs across the Arkansas River, as local legend tells. The North Little Rock History Commission possesses a gravestone left from a ceremony during the 1960s to officially "bury" the nickname, though it persisted.
In the past decade, the name has become one of affection and civic pride, showing up on T-shirts, businesses and even an annual Dogtown Derby with homemade "cars" raced by local students.
Metro on 12/04/2017