Marketing A City

Last winter I was invited to a one-day retreat and brainstorming session for the City of Canyon. The guest speaker was a consultant who specializes in marketing cities. The audience/participants were from all walks of life in our fair village.

He led us through a variety of group exercises, as well as informal lectures. His (and our) conclusions were very interesting: We and he felt that the city's biggest opportunities lay in attracting tourism (in spite of high gas prices). This is a fairly logical conclusion given that we have an amazingly beautiful natural phenomenon right in our backyard.

But the consultant saw a major disconnect between what the city has to offer, and what tourists want. In a nutshell, his recommendation was simple: We've got to get over the alcohol issue, or else we won't grow.

And mind you, this man had no ties to the beer, wine, or distilled spirits industries.

He's right. Visitors to Palo Duro Canyon are highly likely to be turned off by the lack of dining and entrertainment options in Canyon. He cited the need for a "5-star restaurant" (hey, you may as well dream big, huh?), which would help attract people to the city rather than sending them off to Amarillo for all of their needs.

The consultant basically said that, if the city can move on and allow alcohol to be served more freely (in other words, not just at Big Earl's), that businesses would come, and they would prosper. Tourists would be more inclined to spend a night or two, and not run off to Amarillo to spend the rest of their money.

And when you achieve critical mass, the rest of the pieces fall in place. More retail shops would be able to survive here. More people would want to live here. And Canyon would grow.

Naturally, a lot of this scares the daylights out of the old guard. Remember, Canyon only has 10 stoplights (including the ones on Highway 60 and by the new Wal-Mart). Talk about upsetting the applecart, all this change would...well, change Canyon forever.

I agree with the consultant. Change is good. Show me a city that isn't growing, and I'll show you a city that is dying. And to be quite honest, I'm not crazy about the fact that the 1984 movie Footloose could have been filmed here.

So it was with great pleasure that I was appointed to the Canyon Economic Development Corporation's Board of Directors last month. Our job is to promote the economic growth of our community, and not preserve the status quo. And it's not that we are seeking change and growth simply for the sake of either, but rather for the carefully evaluated good of the city.

The consultant was realistic in his assessments. He did not make any pie-in-the-sky predictions about Canyon becoming a booming metropolis. No, he envisioned Canyon being a bustling community not much larger than it presently is, but rather with a more sound economic base.

My thoughts? I agree with the consultant. We cannot (and should not) try to preserve the dusty little town Canyon has always been. We're beginning to make some preogress. The new off-campus student apartment complex east of campus may help entice more students to live in Canyon, as will the new dormitory being built on-campus. Big Earl's is a start in giving people more dining options.

While none of the Board is unrealistic in thinking that Canyon could be the next Santa Fe NM or Fredericksburg TX, we are upbeat about the future. We are agents of change, and change is something this town sorely needs.

And it all begins with unlocking minds.

Dr "Keep the Change" Gerlich