Every week I write about the various things going on downtown. Between the events, the volunteers, our partners, projects like the community float and citywide branding campaign, there’s always something fun going on in Sumner.
And in Sumner, it’s not unusual for fun to translate to unique. I mean, how many cities light their bridge and then have a fireworks show for the community sponsored by local businesses? How many cities have dancing scarecrows on Main Street? We’ve got Irish llamas coming to town for the Rotary St. Patrick’s Day parade Sunday. If that’s not unique (OK, the “Irish Llama” thing may be some bona fide John Skinner blarney) then I don’t know what is.
But even with all the fun we have here, what I most enjoy is the strategy our organization has implemented these past several years and the results of sticking to the game plan. You’re probably thinking that planning downtown strategy is about as much fun as working on your 2009 income tax return. Au contraire, my favorite Courier-Herald readers. Au contraire. It’s more like practicing for an audition for “Dancing with the Stars.” You don’t know for sure when you’ll need all the information and practice you put in, but when you get the call, you know exactly what steps to perform depending on the music. Before you conclude that I’ve gone totally off the deep end, hear me out.
You might have caught an interesting little tidbit on KING 5 News recently about Lee the Horselogger who came through Sumner with his horses and wagons as part of his trek across the nation. I’m not going to write too much about Lee because I know Chaz Holmes is already covering that in this issue. The real story for me is about how the news of his traveling through Sumner galvanized some of our volunteers into a strategic plan of action.
When volunteer coordinator Petra Karr heard about the horses and wagons coming to town, she got on the phone and scheduled several other volunteers to meet her where he was staying in the school district parking lot the next morning to give Lee a cheery Sumner welcome to the Rhubarb Pie Capital and present him with some rhubarb preserves and a cup of coffee. Their goal was to get the Sumner brand out in front of him in hopes of media coverage of his stop, or that he would remember and write about Sumner on his blog, his memoires, etc. And you know what? Mission accomplished. Tuesday, King 5 was running stories about Lee and interviewing Petra.
Learning branding strategies seems to be kind of like teaching your children to walk. They get their balance one little step at a time. But when they see how far they’ve traveled with those little steps, pretty soon their off and running.
Congratulations, Petra, and a big thank you to you and your band of merry rhubarb cheerleaders. It makes me smile to think about how much fun Lee the Horselogger had spending some time in Sumner.
