A RECENT letter submitted to the editor of this paper arguing that Terrace needs an official slogan set off a string of suggestions submitted by readers through Facebook.
Other large northern cities tend to have slogans. For instance, Prince George is called “Gateway to the North” and Whitehorse is “The Wilderness City.” Fort St. John goes by the moniker “The Energetic City.”
Meanwhile Terrace remains sloganless.
The many suggestions received ranged from positive, humorous to strange. One person commented that no name is best.
Positive, affirmative suggestions included “Home of the Kermode” by Wendy Scott. which would jive well with the official and trademarked city logo of the Kermode bear. “Welcome to Terradise,” is another, submitted by Mandi McDougall.
Other suggestions included “Land of Opportunity – the True North, diverse and free,” and “Salmon Capital of the World,” both by Maggie Jo. Judith Olsen suggested “Terrace, one step in the stairway to heaven,” and Joe Bevan chimed in with “The Land of Many.”
With another flavour, John B Nelson thought “the central hub of transportation from trucks to lumber, oil and natural gas” would define the town well.
And Brandon Greenall suggested “Terrace, a great place to live, but the rent will kill you.”
The rest can be seen on the Terrace Standard’s Facebook page.
The letter writer, Max Durando, formerly of Terrace and now living down south, said the slogan should note the city’s strengths including natural beauty, wealth of industry and commerce, First Nations culture and art and – the breadth of the many other visual and performing arts “that bind the community together and make Terrace a desirable place to live.”
Durando’s own suggestion is “Vibrant by Nature.”
“That’s kind of catchy and it reflects the sum of all those strengths,” he said.
He also said he saw a business publication refer to Terrace as “Heart of the Northwest.”
Kermodei Tourism manager Tyler Clarke said the city doesn’t have a slogan but that people have tried to push the idea through before.
“There have been efforts to get groups or committees together but that has met some resistance in the past,” he said, adding he thinks that’s because people don’t like change and no matter what slogan is chosen, someone will not like it.
He added that having a slogan would make his job of promoting the city a lot easier, but qualified this by saying that “there’s nothing wrong with not having a slogan.”
“It’s nice to have but it’s not something you can force,” he said.
Terrace city councillor Stacey Tyers supported the idea in her online comment.
“Maybe we should have a contest,” she noted in the Facebook discussion.
No other city officials had weighed in on the slogan discussion as of the end of last week.