by Terry L. Besser
Assistant Professor and Extension Sociologist
Iowa State University
Where is the Bullhead Capital? How about The Rutabaga Capital or the Home of the World's Largest Sauerkraut Plant or the Toilet Paper Capital of the World? Do you know which Iowa community calls itself The Southwest Iowa Pork Capital? Which is The Golden Buckle on the Com Belt? Where is The Little White City, or The Danish Villages?
Town slogans are a fun way to test your knowledge of a state. However, slogans can serve useful purposes as well as providing entertainment for trivia lovers. Professor David Muench from the University of Wisconsin Extension has studied Wisconsin town slogans. He discovered that slogans can give communities a sense of identity, nurture community pride, unify people and, in some cases, even generate economic benefits.
Advertisers know how effective slogans are in providing recognition for products. What do you think of when you see Over One Billion Sold, or hear Tastes Great, Less Filling and Good to the Last Drop? McDonalds, Miller Lite and Folger's coffee get instant recognition from these slogans. Some cities have slogans that give them instant recognition too, like The Big Apple and the Twin Cities. In that same way, Muench says small towns can use slogans to give them an identity and attract people (not to sauerkraut plants or toilet paper centers, but many towns in Wisconsin have fish or wildlife slogans intended to attract tourists). Certainly, the Little White City and the Danish Villages are intended to entice people to visit.
Citizens of Nashua can go almost anywhere in the country and find someone who has heard of the Little Brown Church in the Vale. The Little Brown Church is a source of identity and community pride. People in Texas might not know where the Southwest Iowa Pork Capital is, but surely they will understand its significance, giving residents of the pork capital something to be proud of. Any community that can rightfully call itself the Golden Buckle on the Corn Belt has reason to brag. A well chosen slogan can focus attention on the community feature which generates pride in its residents.
Slogans can unify a community. Going through the process of composing and selecting a slogan can be a unifying experience for a community. Also, Muench points out that slogan related festivals are unifying enterprises. He cites Monroe, Wis., the Swiss Cheese Capital of the U.S., which annually celebrates Cheese Days, as an example. The whole community gets behind the effort and people work together to make it a success. An example in Iowa is Britt. Britt's slogan is The Hobo Town, and every year it hosts a community festival called the Hobo Convention. A well accepted slogan can encourage local businesses and organizations to work together to emphasize the same theme. Cheese is everywhere in Monroe.
Monroe estimates that its Cheese Days festival brings in $1 million during the three-day event. However, in most cases, the economic gain from slogans is difficult or impossible to measure. Also, some towns do not intend their slogans to provide economic gain. Their purpose for composing a slogan is to have fun. Knoke, Iowa, has a green interstate highway sign along the blacktop road next to it that says "Knoke - Next Three Exits. Population 65 + or - ." Knoke is a small town that probably has no more than three streets.
For those of you who were patient enough to read this entire column, your reward is the identification of the towns that have the slogans mentioned in the first paragraph. Waterville, Minn., is the Bullhead Capital. Cumberland, Wis., is the Rutabaga Capital. The World's Largest Sauerkraut Plant is located at Bear Creek, Wis. Green Bay, Wis., is the Toilet Paper Capital (hard to figure when they've got the Packers to brag about). The Iowa slogans belong to Villisca, Keota, Stanton, and Elkhorn and Kimballton. If you know an interesting slogan from an Iowa town that you'd like to share with me, please send it, and any story that goes with it, to: Terry Besser, 303 East Hall, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011.
Contacts:
Terry L. Besser, ISU
Extension Sociology, (515) 294-6508
Del Marks, ISU Extension
Communication Systems, (515) 294-9807
