If city councillors like the new place brand and logo that will be presented to them tonight at Committee of the Whole, we could find ourselves living in “The Republic of Williams Lake.”
That’s the proposed new brand. Council probably will like it because it has had consultants, councillors, staff and a committee of local residents working on this “pursuit of community passion” for months. They reviewed “previous positive brand prescriptions” and pre-tested their findings. The new brand reflects “a positive position, promise, and personality to project to people both inside and outside the community, and will “attract and retain investment and skilled labour” to the city.
Tonight’s presentation includes pages of pictures and prose (sorry, I got caught up in the proliferation of “Ps”) that lists the city’s qualities and weaknesses. Cowboy heritage is listed under both. Qualities include “B.C.’s most pro-business city hall.“ That one is a surprise to me. Along with our reputation for being unsafe and having a lack of services, culture and infrastructure, the “logging/mill town stigma” is considered a weakness. I didn’t know there was a stigma attached to the forest industry. Without really saying it, the presentation infers there is a ranching/rodeo stigma too.
Pictures include “Saddle up” (mountain biker), “Riding the range” (snowmobiler) and “Slinging some bull” (bull rider).
The Republic of Williams Lake’s new logo would be a blue shield with Williams Lake in big letters, British Columbia in smaller letters between the two words. Someone suggested it looks like it belongs on the back pocket of a pair of jeans.
Anyone interested can find the brand presentation at https://williamslake.civicweb.net/Documents/DocumentList.aspx?ID=53208.
When I first heard the city was planning to dump the ranching/rodeo theme, I asked five former mayors for comment. None were impressed. I will give you their comments next week.
As for me, I think council is trying to fix something that isn’t broken.
Diana French is a freelance columnist for the Tribune. She is a former Tribune editor, retired teacher, historian, and book author.