Bowling Green City Center

Somebody's trying too hard.

Downtown Bowling Green is actually being revitalized, despite the naysayers who swear up and down that the entire effort is part of Gary Ransdell's master plan to take over the city. The Hot Rods are doing fine, SKyPAC is nearing completion, Circus Square is a hit, and Slim Nash's skate park hasn't caused BG to be litigated into ruin.

Cool restaurants and other businesses are paying serious attention to the area, and if it weren't for an untimely dive in our nation's economy they would already be there.

And for well over 200 years, the downtown area had a very catchy name. Can you guess it? It was called . . . wait for it . . . Downtown! A group of our brave founding citizens went out on a limb and allowed nature to take its course and, with no input from consultants nor focus groups, let a descriptor be attached to the area that exactly defined it for centuries to come.

But the 21st century has arrived, and we've fallen under the spell of focus-group wizardry. Now lovely, beautiful, historic Downtown Bowling Green will henceforth carry the moniker of City Center.

I can just imagine the conversations as people try to figure out exactly where City Center is located.

She: Meet me at Barbara Stewart's so we can pick out a unique gift for Sandy and Martin's divorce.
He: Sure. Where is it?
She: It's in City Center.
He: Is that near Rafferty's, where Blockbuster used to be?
She: No, it's City Center, kinda near the center of the city.
He: Near Bowling Green Towers?
She: City Center. You know. Near the courthouse.
He: There's a shopping center near the courthouse?
She: It's not a shopping center. It's City Center.
He: What?
She: It's downtown!
He: Oh. Downtown. Why didn't you just say that?

You know, they hired a consulting firm to conduct focus groups to decide what to call downtown. Then they put some suggestions on their website and had people vote on their favorite. Then they went with City Center.

And the name that was missing from their poll? The name we were not given the option to vote on? That name that was so cruelly withheld from us was none other than Downtown. That's right, we couldn't have had it if we wanted it.

Downtown, oops, City Center will be fine. I'm excited just watching the changes, and look forward to some nice residential areas and grocery stores popping up. But I think I'll just keep calling it Downtown.

(Before I go, what's the deal with the City Center logo? I guess it's supposed to represent water squirting from a fountain, but most visitors will think it's a butterfly. Maybe I'll run into you in City Center, the butterfly capital of Kentucky!)