MINNEAPOLIS — The Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board unanimously approved a name change to Farwell Park on Wednesday night. The park will be changed to Lorraine B. Smaller Park, after a longtime north Minneapolis resident and educator who passed in 2022.
We originally spoke to Smaller's granddaughter, Amina, in February. At the time, Amina and her family had submitted a nomination letter to the board, asking for that name change, and were waiting on a public hearing.
"We'd joke with her and be like, 'We're gonna name the park after you," Amina said in February, laughing. "We don't care how it happens, we're just gonna go slap 'Lorraine B. Smaller Park' on the board over there."
That was the first step, and the entire process would have taken two full years before the park could be renamed.
An email was recently found from 2022, also submitting that request to change the park's name. Because of that, two years have already passed.
Wednesday night, the board voted and unanimously approved the change.
"It is so easy to forget, and we carry on the stories of our elders in everything we do," Amina said during an interview in February. "But I think it's a different effect to have it concrete somewhere, and our elders and our ancestors deserve that recognition."
Smaller was a longtime educator, and after she retired, started the We Care Performing Arts Summer Program at Farwell Park. That program is dedicated to bringing kids together over the summer, giving them a safe place to learn and gather.
A spokesperson for the Park & Recreation Board says the name of the park will be updated online within the next week. Physical signage will take a bit longer to install but should be up sometime in June.
According to MPRB records, the park was named for Farwell Place, though it's unclear where that name comes from. The park was named in 1889 and was never officially adopted or changed.
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