Focus on prosperity, not slogan

The Gazette Editorial Board

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There's been talk this week about deep-sixing the fifth season.

It's not the first time Cedar Rapids' longtime motto, “City of Five Seasons” has been questioned, or lampooned. A fair number of locals dislike it. And a fair number of outsiders are confused. For the record, yet again, the fifth season is the extra time that the pace of life in Cedar Rapids affords us to enjoy the other four seasons.

But, in reality, old slogans never die, they just fade from tourism brochures.

The City of Five Seasons is no longer used much to market the city. It's been more than a decade since the Five Seasons Center became the U.S. Cellular Center. The arena's next name will likely go to the highest corporate bidder. Right now at City Hall, the fifth season is the time it takes officials to figure out how to pay the bills during the other four.

The slogan is still in use by the City of Cedar Rapids, emblazoned on everything from vehicles to the city website. And Mayor Ron Corbett says five seasons gives him a nice opening to discuss the city's quality of life.

So the fifth season survives, for now. But does the city need a new slogan?

We're skeptical of the value of marketing-manufactured monikers. We see a city's image as the sum of its actual advantages and disadvantages, its character and history, which can't be boiled down to a catchy phrase. The only sure way to a positive brand identity is vibrant growth, and the painstaking, difficult work that demands.

That work is going on right now in Cedar Rapids. Many big public projects are under way, while local leaders simultaneously hunt for private investments and new businesses. The city is getting high marks nationally for its business climate, which we hope will eventually mean a downpour of new jobs and growth.

Slogans are nice, but prosperity speaks for itself. Maybe sometime in the future, once we have a better sense of the success of the local revitalization and reinvestment push, there will be time to consider a new motto.

Maybe we'll even have to spend the entire fifth season considering all the positive possibilities.

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