“Branding” Monroe
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Three years ago when I was operating The Voice News I wrote an editorial about our need for a positive community identity.
My point was that every town has a “brand” whether we like it or not. When I say the following words, your brain immediately creates an impression: Leavenworth; Edmonds; Seattle; Kirkland; Lynnwood; Kent.
What is our community identity? Is it traffic? A strip of disjointed strip malls along US2? The prison? My concern is that any identity that Monroe has in the region does not reflect well on us. Those of us who live here have a completely different impression of our town. We see it as a wholesome community with good schools, decent home prices (at least for the last few years) great neighbors and plenty of parks…a great place to raise a family, live, work and play.
But to those who do not live here, our “brand” is not as positive.
It is for that reason that the City, the Chamber of Commerce and the Tourism Board has embarked on a process for the last year to develop a different identity. Something that Monroe could be known for that works with our family-friendly focus and that will reflect positively on Monroe.
So here’s where we are with it today: a group called Destination Development was hired (out of dollars the hotels and motels collect to pay for tourism promotion) to help us develop a “brand identity” for Monroe. You can read their reports here. Monroe Assessment & Brand Analysis.
The basic concept is to use our natural assets in Monroe to enhance what we’re already doing. We have more park space than any other Western Washington town. We also have a thriving outdoor recreation community. We have thriving Little Leagues (they need help completing their ball fields), we host the girls fastpitch World Series here in Monroe, we have uncounted numbers of outdoors enthusiasts who are already traveling THROUGH Monroe to kayak, hike, fish and rock climb. We can go with that theme and market Monroe as the Adventure Sports capital of the Northwest. We can enhance our park system to host BMX events, competitive mountain biking competitions, and the added economic boon these competitors and their families bring will enhance our own community when they are gone.
With these kinds of customers comes a need for new and improved restaurant choices and shopping experiences that greatly enhance our quality of life. And eventually the whole town will catch the vision and we’ll see more Northwest-themed architecture in our buildings and developments. I’m not saying we’ll look like Whistler, but you get the idea.
I think it’s one of those ideas that has no down sides and only up sides. We have the parks space to begin hosting these events now. And we already have cars going through our town to recreation opportunities, so why not ask them to stay and spend money in our town. The money they spend will create a vital economy that will add jobs to our community and bring even more money into the City coffers to build more sidewalks, more parks and more schools and playfields for kids.
I’ve just given you a quick summary of the concepts, and I’ve probably not done a very good job since I’m in a hurry as I write. But please let me know what you think about the overall idea.
March 16th, 2007 at 2:35 pm
I think that’s a great idea!
March 26th, 2007 at 8:03 pm
I thought I would post some of the responses that have been sent to me from folks who do not live in Monroe, but are involved in BMX events, etc. I am removing the last names for privacy:
“I am from Springfield OR. I do alot of BMXing events with my son. I take him almost every weekend, In fact we just got back from Pasco, WA from a national event. I hear talk of an indoor track. That would be great It would draw alot of us Oregon BMXers. We no longer have an indoor track here. So you know we would come. BUILD IT AND THEY SHALL COME. Depending on the weather on if we would Camp or Hotel. Then the food and goodies to get use thru the weekend. The way I see it now that the weekends we travel end up being $1000.00 weekends. One thing that would be nice is to have somthing close for the night life for the kids. Arcade, Bowling or etc. I will keep up on this issue to see if one goes up and you can count on my son and his team to be there. And Yes, I never come with just my rider this past weekend there were six riders in my car and four in the other one that came along with us. total of ten riders we brought to The Pasco, WA National. THANK YOU FOR YOU TIME IN READING THIS.
JUST ANOTHER BMX MOM”
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“We are writing in regards to an article we received regarding Destination Development Inc.
We are a family of four who has become very involved in BMX Racing. Both of our sons have now been racing for three years and I myself have recently purchased a bike and plan on racing locally.
My oldest son who is 10 years old has taken this sport to the next level. He is what is known as a National Caliber Racer. We travel at least once a month sometimes twice to various races. We have already traveled to Tennessee and Oklahoma this year. I know the attendance at the Oklahoma race this year was 11,000 + spectators and participants at the three day event. For any national rider the typical weekend is to fly out on a Thursday. Get your rental car and head to the hotel to get a good nights rest. Friday starts off with a good breakfast then off to the track for practice. Once the scheduled practice is over there is what they call a pre-race. This race does not have nearly the participants that the Saturday and Sunday race draws. Most of the top national riders don’t participate on Friday. So we usually head out have dinner and catch a movie or go bowling. Saturday and Sunday’s race are full day events. I would say all in all a typical weekend when just the two of us travel we spend between $1500.00 to $2000.00 for everything but, the best part of the weekend is the quality time my son and I have together. We have a very special relationship because of this sport. I don’t know if any of you are aware but this sport is going to have it’s debut in 08 in the Olympic Games. This June my son and I are going to be going to Waterford Michigan in hopes of making the US Team. They are expecting over 100 10 year olds at this event alone.
Of course there is a lot of sponsorship involved when a rider is involved as much as my son is. Even for the local riders there is a lot of businesses that become involved. I invite you to visit the ABA’s website. www.ababmx.com
Pete”
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“I can’t tell you how excited I was to see the new branding “challenge sports” specifically BMX for the City of Monroe. We are a family who loves sports and outdoor fun. My boys 11 and 12 use to go everywkend to the McCollum BMX when we lived in Everett. We are so excited to see that an indoor BMX track is imminent in Monroe. Monroe needs some more places for kids to have fun and keep active. The only place kids can go in Monroe really is the theater (but that is of course no exercise). I would love to see more indoor or outdoor activities like bowling, riding, swimming etc… If you need any volunteers or help in getting the BMX going please let me know what I can do. If there is any doubt I advocate highly for the BMX Site and think it would be a great revenue opportunity for the City. Thank you.
Chris”
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“Read the information regarding the building of a new indoor BMX track. I live in Port Orchard, WA and my son and would be there at least twice a month or more and would spend 1 night (Saturday) in a hotel and eat at the local restaurants.
Hope this helps in making your planning,
Alan”
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“i race bmx and would love a national track in Monroe.
i have raced from Arizona to B.C. and we drive or fly, usally for the weekend and stay in a hotel/motel. we go out for dinner and my wife goes shopping.
thank you for your consideration.
Steve”
March 28th, 2007 at 11:58 am
I like this idea. I might feel differently if you guys wanted to make us a NASCAR town or something. But outdoor type sports and competition type events are very family oriented and appropriate. And from a business perspective I don’t see how it can hurt. I think it can only help. I hope you guys go forward with this. I’m tired of Monroe being known for an ugly hiway 2 and the prison.