New year, new name for agency that runs Tacoma’s parks. Here’s what it will be called
So long, Metro. Welcome, Parks Tacoma.
That’s the new, trimmer name for the Metropolitan Park District of Tacoma which, for the last several decades, has been known as Metro Parks Tacoma.
As of Tuesday morning, it’s just Parks Tacoma.
The change came after a survey in 2019 showed that only 41 percent of the community correctly identified the agency as the operator of its four community centers. Only 30 percent associated Metro Parks Tacoma with summer camps and sports leagues, and a 7 percent knew it operated Meadow Park Golf Course.
In 2020, Metro Parks was getting ready to change the name and then the COVID-19 pandemic struck. The agency was consumed with facility closures, canceled programs and staff reductions.
“It was not the right time to be updating a brand,” said Tara Mattina, Parks Tacoma’s marketing and digital media manager.
In 2020, Metro Parks Tacoma wasn’t sure of the lasting impacts of the pandemic. Now, it’s back to where it was as far as brand murkiness goes.
“The community centers are full, the parks are full, but there is still that confusion around who’s providing those services,” Mattina said.
The 120-year-old agency is independent from the City of Tacoma.
Rebranding
On Monday, the new logo was visible on the large sign at Heidelberg Davis Park at South 19th and South Tyler streets. But the name change is just more than signs and logos, Mattina said. The agency wants the public to be aware of who is running the facilities they use.
“That’s important from an accountability standpoint, it’s also important from an investment standpoint,” she said. “We want to make sure that they understand how we’re investing their money and what the results of those programs are.”
The old logo, with a green tree and outline of a mountain and a round sun has been reduced to a green salal leaf inside the R in “Parks.” Salal is a native plant, important to indigenous tribes, that has edible berries and grows profusely in Point Defiance Park. It’s also used in the floral trade where it’s erroneously called “lemon leaf.”
The pared down logo follows a pattern that many companies have taken — including The News Tribune — to simplify busy logos that date from the pre-internet era.
“It’s hard to break through the information clutter out there,” Mattina said.
Metro Parks Tacoma’s logo would often get shoved aside by unique logos from the agency’s various community centers. Now, they, along with the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, Northwest Trek Wildlife Park and other facilities, will co-represent with Parks Tacoma.
New signs, website
“’Metro’ is probably the least descriptive word in our name,” Mattina said. “So when people shorten us to just Metro, it becomes even more confusing.” Metro is shorthand for a number of agencies from transportation to police.
The agency’s website is still alive, but now its URL is parkstacoma.gov rather than the old .org URL. Agencies that use .gov must be vetted, and it offers more security, Mattina said.
Facility signs, which haven’t changed in 25 years, will be covered with temporary overlays, she said.
Parks Tacoma spent $72,000 on a contractor to produce the visual identity system (parent logo, color palette, sub-brand incorporation and templates), according to Parks Tacoma spokesperson Stacia Glenn. New signage will be phased in.
Parks Tacoma will conduct another survey in mid-2026 to ascertain how effective the name change has been.
“We (will) go back and ask the same exact question and see if we’ve moved the needle,” Mattina said.
This story was originally published January 14, 2025 at 10:05 AM.
