Sunset for 'Five Seasons'

CEDAR RAPIDS - Stan Wiederspan's work of art, “The Dynamics of Five,” had a nice run in the lobby of the U.S. Cellular Center, but it's coming down.

Should the slogan that painting supported - “City of Five Seasons” - be retired, too?

In 2000, the arena gave up any reference to Five Seasons - the fifth season is for enjoying the other four - in exchange for naming-rights revenue. It's been the U.S. Cellular Center since then.

Now the hotel attached to the arena - which in recent years was branded as the Crowne Plaza Five Seasons Hotel - is giving up the reference as well. The hotel, which the city bought from its creditors in March, will become a Doubletree by Hilton following renovation.

“There was an empty wall in a visually important place that was an opportunity to do something that would be visually entertaining,” Wiederspan said about his painting. “It has served that purpose … and we're moving on.”

Wiederspan operates a Cedar Rapids art gallery and has work on display at The Eastern Iowa Airport, Kirkwood Community College and elsewhere. His painting for the U.S. Cellular Center is a design of five shapes in five primary colors, with a crescent shape characteristic of his work.

It's a shape that is positive and optimistic, like a smile or the raising of arms in a cheer, he said.

“At the time, ‘The City of Five Seasons' was being heavily promoted, and I chose the idea of the element of five. That was my point of departure.

“Cities like to have names for themselves,” he said. “They like to have slogans. The Parlor City. The City of Lights. The Big Apple. So I was picking up on that.”

Wiederspan's art will always be known as “The Five,” but his sense is that the “City of Five Seasons” has faded over the years.

“So your next question might be: ‘Is it time for a new slogan?' But it's not my place to say that,” he said.

John Frew, the city's project manager for construction of the new convention center and renovation of the arena and hotel, said City Hall has not suggested the Five Seasons slogan be tied to the hotel, convention center or arena in future.

“It's never come up in conversation,” Frew said.

Bill Munsell, the retired president and chairman of former ad agency Creswell, Munsell, Fultz & Zirbel Inc., which was the creative force behind “The City of Five Seasons” some 40-plus years ago, has told Frew he wants the hotel to retain the Five Seasons name.

“But that doesn't pay the bills,” Frew said. “We've got to sell every inch of this to gain as much financial support for the city as possible, and that's our direction.”

Munsell said the Five Seasons brand is a good one, adding it would be a shame for the hotel not to use it. Still, what happens at the hotel will have no impact on Munsell's fundraising effort to reintroduce the Fifth Season concept to the city with funds to beautify, expand and maintain the plaza around the Tree of Five Seasons sculpture.

“That won't slow us down at all,” he said of the Five Seasons' name dropping off the hotel.

Marilee Fowler, president/CEO of the Cedar Rapids Visitors and Convention Bureau, said its board of directors decided a couple of years ago to set aside the Five Seasons concept in its marketing of the city.

“It was time to move away and have a new image,” Fowler said. The bureau now sells Cedar Rapids as a place “where your experience starts.”

Fowler said she's not certain the bureau has any promotional literature left with the Five Seasons logo on it.

“We do occasionally have people inquire about that tag line because they don't understand it,” she said.

Still, the city is not turning its back on the Five Seasons concept entirely. The City of Five Seasons, for instance, remains emblazoned on city vehicles, street signs and stationery.

Mayor Ron Corbett said it's not uncommon for facilities to rebrand themselves to identify with a larger or different market or to bring in some additional revenue. That's what has happened at the U.S. Cellular Center and hotel, he said, citing the change from the Cedar Rapids airport to The Eastern Iowa Airport as another example.

Corbett said he still refers to “The City of Five Seasons” with every group he welcomes to Cedar Rapids.

“A lot of effort has been invested in ‘The City of Five Seasons,' ” the mayor said. “It certainly gives us a nice segue into talking about the benefits of living in Cedar Rapids and having a business in Cedar Rapids. It's fun. It's the lighter side of Cedar Rapids, and I enjoy selling it.”

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