Editor, The Times:
I have taken a number of business courses and read a few books on the matter. One of the recurring themes was the name of you choose for your business.
Mankind has a tendency to allow his/her ego get in the way of something so simple as a name. People predominantly want to choose something cute or sideways intellectual to describe their offering. But the business gurus (who often disagree on many points) always agree on one thing: name it what it is. If it is a bakery, call it “The Bakery!”
I propose we do the same with our community identity. This is something the town had discussed at length in the past but never really seemed to get a full grasp upon over the years. We looked over a number of other towns and seemed particularly amused with the western theme that some town had chosen. We truly admired Ladysmith's wall mural theme. Hope’s carved statues have had their influence on our little town. We looked around and found many admirable town identity offerings and unfortunately have started using them all.
Unless I am mistaken, our identity does not seem clearly defined. There seems to be a number of themes throughout. Right from private homeowners to town council we find well thought out individual ideas of what we are about. I was particularly abhorred by the Wells Gray Park sign in our roundabout and its lack of understanding.
So what do I feel should be our visual identify? It is what it has been forever and we took it so much for granted that only a quiet few recognized it. We are and have been for a very long time identified by “Fire and Ice.”
Wells Gray Park is known as a park created by fire and ice. While we take evidence of volcanic activity for granted, others look on it with awe. The town is working together with an interest group to create a UNESCO site dedicated to volcanic features, including our Buck Hill! It isn’t what other towns are, it is far better!
It doesn’t take much imagination to think how inexpensive and easy it would be to find sufficient volcanic rock to decorate our signs and buildings. How our winter carnival could be our “Ice Carnival.” How our menus could include “Lava Sauce.” How an ice cream deserts in a restaurants could be called the “Pyramid” or with a hot topping, “Fire and Ice.” Or how about our school, when teaching about volcanoes, actually visiting a volcano! It’s in our back yard – how cost effective would that field trip be!
Did you know that we have the remnants of one of the greatest battle of all time? Larger than Ali and Frazier; larger than David and Goliath; larger than Godzilla and Superman? Pyramid Mountain was a volcano that fought with a glacier and lost. Just imagine the intensity of a battle of that magnitude!
Randy Hedlund
Clearwater, B.C.