What better way to honour Toronto's unofficial animal mascot, the raccoon, than with its own dedicated park, complete with a giant trash panda head?

Raccoon Park is an ode to our mischievous four-legged residents and just opened to the public at 86 Soudan Avenue, tucked just near Yonge and Eglinton.

Passersby are already loving the new addition to the neighbourhood, with people seemingly surprised that it actually ended up bearing the name "Raccoon Park," a minimalist monicker some said they had just been using as a nickname throughout the building process for what had been listed in docs as "Holly Park."

"Been calling this park the 'raccoon park' for months while it was in construction... but holy sh**, they actually named it 'Raccoon Park.' Well, here's Toronto’s newest park," one person wrote in a community Facebook group when the fencing around the green space finally came down on August 23.

"I can't believe they actually named it that when everyone who lives in this area called it raccoon park," a local agreed. Still another said they were "so excited to learn" of the official name. 

The large, climbable wooden critter face that serves as the park's most unique and characteristic feature has had people wondering (and smiling) about the project since it began in the fall, serving as the centrepiece of the site, which also has a playground, splash pad, shade structures, seating, grassy patches, paths and local plant life.

The City told blogTO back when work first kicked off that Raccoon Park is just one of a few spots that "offer playful references to Toronto's love-hate relationship" with the animal, along with a series of new raccoon sculptures at Richmond Street East and Power Street.

In celebrating the property's opening, a few citizens are hedging bets about how long it will take actual trash pandas to take it over, with one even joking that they may round up the furry friends that frequent their backyard for a visit.

Though it is technically part of a new condo complex on the corner, the park is City-owned and operated. It was initially slated to finish in the spring, but now that it is open for use, will be formally launched with a ceremony on September 24.