More than Mother Nature is conspiring against having follow-up meeting(s) of a working group to do brand development.
In doing a search of ways to try brand development other than by meeting face-to-face, Colin Michael, an MBBA Board Member and computer person at FHC, Inc. (also responsible for the MBBA Web Site) suggested the creation of a “Merrymeeting Boards” blog that could be accessed in conjunction with the MBBA Web Site. If you have gotten this far you now know this.
Second, when I contacted Jeff Sneddon of the Midcoast Council for Business Development and Planning and told him about the Jan meeting of Merrymeeting Boards, as well as interest in developing a Merrymeeting Brand, he suggested that an early task include an “asset inventory”.
I’m suggesting we take Jeff Sneddon’s asset inventory idea, try out a Merrymeeting Bay Boards blog approach so that we all can participate? We could do one or two rounds of brainstorming comment and suggestions that all who wish to can contribute, then we can all look at what gets offered and see what we have.
This is a chance to get a lot of stuff out that we all can read and comment on and see what happens. For example
Richmond Selectman Burt Batty let me know that there is a Richmond Waterfront Park and Harbor Committee that is in the process of developing a brochure and that it might be useful in looking at other Merrymeeting Bay communities. I will seek more info about it…
Two things as starters, first a basic definition of “asset”. Second, I found a Richmond focused draft that includes cues and clues to range of perspectives about what Richmond folks involved in community and economic development were using to describe some assets….
As to definition, assets can be described in categories, like economic, environmental, cultural, creative, human, etc. etc and my American Heritage Dictionary offers asset as: “a useful or valuable quality, person, or thing; an advantage or a resource:…”
Second, when I was working with Richmond’s Community and Economic Development Office, a draft was developed for Richmond’s Board for Community and Economic Development to act as a starter for discussion of vision and community sustainability.
Here is what was done to generate a Richmond-focused discussion of vision.
What follows is the whole draft. Some sections from the vision section ended up as Richmond’s description in the Chamber’s guide to area communities. The other sections contain additional references to “assets” and may generate additional thinking, or better yet, more viable alternatives worth exploring….. If our other communities and organizations have some offerings to put in the asset mix, let’s have at it, and thanks, Dave T. .
Draft for Discussion
Richmond Sustainable Development Vision and Community Milestones
Background
Some Maine communities are working to define their community and economic development efforts by looking hard at what they want their community to become, identifying ways to measure progress, and periodically reviewing how they are doing. These reviews provide opportunities to purposefully challenge and/or change direction rather than just living with changes as they may happen. For a community to successfully seek and reach what it wants to become, it must have a sense of its own vision. Here is a DRAFT of what may be said about Richmond in an attempt to draw upon its history, to reflect upon some of the pressures affecting the direction of our community and economic development, and to begin to set out how we want to direct and define our own future.
Vision
Richmond citizens cherish their connection with the land and with their access to water. A distinctive village enhances the largely rural and agricultural nature of the town. The village itself is distinguished by many historic buildings, by riverfront on the Kennebec River, and access to Swan Island and Merrymeeting Bay. Pleasant Pond provides a large residential and recreational community with summer and year round water-related activities.
Citizens value a less complicated life, are concerned with the preservation of their natural environment, and balance business and economic competitiveness with a high level of social cooperation and support for community service. Richmond schools are centers of community focus, attention, and activity for young and old. Churches and other organizations provide a range of additional services as well as essential vitality to community life.
Richmond citizens value their shared history with an important, but diminishing Russian community. Citizens are interested in preserving historical structures as well as natural settings and open space that define not only the village but also the homes which line town roads in increasing density.
As our citizens look ahead to a sustainable future, we see a need to more clearly identify our community’s assets, look closely at what is happening to our natural environment, and restate the values on which our critical choices will be made. We know that we face new challenges in the economic life of our village, the Interstate 95 (now 295) Interchange, our farms and agricultural enterprises, and increasingly scattered locations of commerce. We know we need to diversify and develop our economic base, but not with enterprises that may put our assets at risk. We want to look more closely at how we fulfill our needs without threatening the ability of our children and grandchildren to also meet their needs and continue to define a sustainable future for themselves.
What is sustainable development? Two views; what are yours?
The United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development in 1987 defined sustainable development as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
Thomas Jefferson in 1789: “Then I say the earth belongs to each…generation during its course, fully and in its own right. The second generation receives it clear of the debts and encumbrances, the third of the second, and so on. For if the first could charge it with a debt, then the earth would belong to the dead and not to the living generation. Then no generation can contract debts than may be paid during the course of its own existence.”
Community Milestones
What are community milestones?
The selection of community milestones is an attempt to pick measurable indicators, that when we keep track of them, provides information about how we are doing. They become measures of progress, good or bad, because we try to pick indicators that tell us what is going on in our larger systems. For example, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is used by many to provide a short hand picture of stock market performance.
For Richmond, we are trying to pick and to try out indicators of performance at the community level that will tell us if we are making the kinds of progress that we want. What follows is a discussion draft of what may be used. We need your ideas about them as well as any additions or deletions! Some are not stated measurable terms. If you think the category is important, we need your help defining the indicator! As a starting point these community milestones have been outlined in three categories: Economy, Natural Environment, and Social Services.
•Community Milestones–Economy
Poverty
Percent of households below the poverty level
Jobs
Manufacturing jobs as a percent of all jobs
•Making effective use of natural assets
Quality of Kennebec River water
Number of Kennebec River moorings
Number of boat passenger visits
Quality of water in Pleasant Pond
Utility service water quality
•Roads and multi-modal infrastructure
Percent of roads needing major upgrades
Percent of roads needing repair
Number of rail passenger visits
Availability of rail freight
Percent of roads with acceptable bicycle shoulders
•Telecommunications infrastructure
Availability of high speed data transfer
TV Cable services at digital transmission level
•Village as a service center
Diversity of services available
Vacancy rate of storefronts in village
•Community Milestones–Natural environment
Land
Percent of agricultural land with development rights purchased
Water
Water quality measures: Pleasant Pond and Kennebec River
Riverfront
Facilities accessible to handicapped
Merrymeeting Bay
See Friends of Merrymeeting Bay for milestones
Forest
Town forest milestones
•Community Milestones—Social Services
Health
Percent of deaths that is preventable
Percent of residents with health insurance
Education
Percent of graduates going on to post secondary education
MEA test measures improving
Diversity
Percent of residents for which a social service is not available
Percent of boards, commissions, and committees with gender balance
Democracy
Attendance at Selectmen’s’ meetings increasing
Number of Town Meetings with increasing attendance
David, great start. Colin, thank you for getting the blog up and running. What is unique about Merrymeeting, is that it conects all of us to together. Bowdoinham has a rich history on the bay, in the fields and the woods surrounding the bay. I will include some history and my department’s current view on development for discussion.
Bowdoinham was incorporated as the fourteenth town in the Province of Maine in September, 1762. Bowdoinham was one of the earliest shipbuilding centers on the Kennebec River where more than 250 vessels were constructed
By 1810, warehouses and mills lined both shores of the Cathance River. Boarding houses, two hotels, and more than two dozen stores, businesses and manufacturing operations shared Main Street frontage with private homes, estates and churches. By the 1870s, with shipbuilding on the decline, Bowdoinham reverted to what it had always been at the grassroots: a small, agriculturally-based community of self-sufficient farms. Residents raised market crops like apples, wheat, hay and potatoes. They harvested fish and ice from the rivers and wood from the forests, earning a decent living.
Present day Bowdoinham has a population of approximately 2,800. It remains a very pleasant and prosperous village on the banks of the Cathance and Kennebec Rivers and Merrymeeting Bay. Main Street is home to several vibrant businesses including Bowdoinham Federal Credit Union, Banana Banners, Downeast Insurance, Fox Realty, Law offices of Art Lamothe, and CP Curtis Insurance. Bowdoinham has a rich agricultural history and is currently seeing an increase in traditional and organic farming including large producers and micro farms. Bowdoinham is also the home of many well known artists whose work is a direct reflection of the natural beauty of the area. “Cathance Landing” located on the waterfront in the village is home to five small start-up businesses including a new arts center and flower shop that fit nicely into the newly defined “Creative Economy”.
Numerous improvements to the Mailly Waterfront Park include an easily accessible public boat launch, hiking trails and new docks. The park is home to free Sunday Concerts sponsored by the town every Sunday at 6pm during the summer. Other notable events include the Library Plant sale in May and Celebrate Bowdoinham in September. Visit http://www.bowdoinham.com to learn more about living and working in Bowdoinham.
Town Of Bowdoinham
Department of Community and Economic Development Plan
BCED Goal: To support the existing businesses of Bowdoinham through promotion of their services, educational opportunities, community awareness and networking. To develop and attract sustainable businesses to Bowdoinham that will reflect the high quality of life and strong sense of community Bowdoinham is known for. To develop, organize and coordinate community enhancing events to bring together the citizens of Bowdoinham.
Economic Development:
• Work with local regional and state Economic Developers to coordinate efforts to develop one or more of the following economic clusters to broaden and diversify our job base: Food and Agriculture, Creative Economy and the Arts, and Renewable Energy/Green Construction.
o Bowdoinham farms- Develop awareness of locally grown food and local farmers through education and community outreach. Create a local market for farmers to sell goods locally.
o Focus on the creative economy by supporting the Merrymeeting Arts Center, Five Rivers Art Alliance, Bowdoinham Guild of Artisans. Brand Bowdoinham as an artistic destination.
• Market the area near the highway interchange to companies who will provide needed services and jobs to the citizens of Bowdoinham in a sustainable, low impact manner. Explore the possibilities of 3 phase power and public water to the highway area.
• Create greater awareness and utilization of existing Bowdoinham businesses through the Bowdoinham News, Bowdoinham.com, Merrymeeting Bay Business Association, The Southern Midcoast Chamber and other venues.
• Explore ways to provide high speed internet to all Bowdoinham residents and citizens.
Community Development:
• Work in conjunction with the town planner to increase the viability of the village area through community development grants including, but not limited to: façade improvement, pedestrian accessibility and safety.
• Work in conjunction with Bowdoinham Recreation Dept to create safe recreation areas such as walking paths, biking paths, sidewalks and areas for citizens to recreate and meet. Increase awareness and accessibility of Bowdoinham’s natural resources including the rivers and Merrymeeting Bay.
• Enhance community building tools such as the Bowdoinham News, http://www.bowdoinham.com, Summer Concert Series, and Celebrate Bowdoinham.
Thank you for the oppourtunity to collaborate on this project. -Tony
The following is from “Confluence: Merrymeeting Bay” by Franklin Burroughs / Photography by Heather Perry, pp 125-126. I recommend Confluence for other perspectives about the bay that have implications for branding. The term “confluence” itself may be one key to an understanding…. anyway, here’s Franklin Burrough’s take on the origin of the Bay’s name…. remembering, however, we need to focus on the Bay’s communities and not just the Bay.
“There’s no agreement as to why the first English settlers called the Bay ‘Merrymeeting.’ In the context of seventeenth-century English and New English culture, ‘merry’ was not just another adjective. It rankled Puritans, who associated it with celebrations like Christmas, which they deemed to be a nominally Christian but essentially pagan and ungodly feast, one with all sorts of convivial whoop-de-doo and chearful carnality. Anglicans naturally liked the word, if only because it so scandalized and aggravated a group of people whom they considered self-tighteous kill-joys of the deadliest sort. In Massachusetts, the defiantly impious Thomas Morton set up a community of jolly souls who wanted nothing to do with John Winthrop, the City on a Hill, and all of that, and named it Merry Mount. It didn’t last long; he was driven back to England, and it became Quincy.
In the context of that time, a ‘merrymeeting’ was a festive gathering — generally, it eould seem, an impromptu one, where a lot of spontaneous merrymaking took place. It has been speculated that the name refers chiefly to the seasonal movements of the Abenaki — the Bay was a place of rendevous for the tribes from the Androscoggin and Kennebec watersheds. That doesn’t seem especially likely to me — their own name for the Bay had no such reference. It might more plausibly have come from the springtime reunions of trappers and traders, native Americans and Euro-Americans, which would presumably have been as convivial as cheap rum and brandy could make them. But my guess is that the name had more to do with the English culture wars than with local events, and that it was intended to appeal to one kind of English colonist and warn off another. The fact that one cove downriver from the Bay is named ‘Robinhood’ and another ‘Christmas’ tends to support this: both names, to a Puritan, would have smacked of Merry Olde England, which was precisely the anathema they were fleeing.
In any event, the name colonized and familiarized the place, at least for some Englishmen, and it comes trippingly off the tongue, the smoothly alliterative and trochaically upbeat adjective followed by the the more sombrely nautical and curtly expansive ‘bay’. Leaving all that warfare over vocabulary, ecclesiastical governance, predestination, and the rest of it aside, it is one of the better English placenames in the New World. But some of us might prefer the name replaced.
The Abenaki knew Merrymeeting Bay as ‘Quabacook’. The word means ‘duck watering place’. The first syllable practically quacks, all by itself. So even back at the time when the Bay swarmed with anadromous fish and eagles congregated around around it like seagulls around a garbage dump, its great defining feature was its status a habitat for waterfowl. It meant ducks.
That reamins the case today–to the extent that the Bay is known beyond the towns that immediately border it, and to the extent that it is identified with anything, it is a place of ducks and duckhunting. And of the various livehoods, subcultures, and distinctive traditions that have flourished around Quabacook over the course of its long history, the one that unselfishly continues is the one of duck hunting.” End of quote and comment.
Copy of email sent to MBBA Board members Jul 3, 09; plan is to review and discuss further as a board at the aug meeting; further discussion or comment is welcome!
Hi board members. (Thinking global acting loco)
I’ve just checked the Merrymeeting Boards Brand blog and the only activity has been what Tony and I have posted. Twice by email I have tried to nudge the list of people who came to the Jan Merrymeeting Boards meeting to add, challenge, be critical or whatever to the blog and nothing has happened that I know about. I got a response from one person who said he’d get back to me…. In the meantime I’ve done some thinking and research with the purpose of first sharing only with you and getting feedback.
I am not sure what a “brand” statement is or looks like. Is it something you recognize when you see one? It probably is similar to a mission or vision statement but different; should it be descriptive but more compressed than expansive? Should it capture the essence or spirit of people and place? I think it should be written in clear and plain language without fluff and be easily captured or represented in media that takes us beyond words…. Is it like a business or organizational “tag line” usually used right with the business or organizational name?
I first looked up some handy mission or vision statements so see what I might learn.
Here is our chamber’s:
“Southern Midcoast Maine Chamber is a local business association that is committed to the growth and development of our members. The Chamber works collaboratively with state regional and local groups to promote our members through economic, legislative, educational, tourist and cultural initiatives, and maintains a visible presence in all 16 of the communities we represent.”
Healthy Communities vision
“A welcoming, vibrant, diverse community that provides stigma-free access so all may achieve their health goals in a clean, safe, nourishing environment.”
MPBN’s Mission
“Every day, the Maine Public Broadcasting Network connects the people of Maine to each other and to the world through the open exchange of information, ideas and cultural content. As Maine’s premier, independent media resource, we create exceptional opportunities for the communities we serve to engage with critical issues, compelling stories and quality entertainment.”
And here are some organizational or business name “tag lines”
The welcome to Richmond sign “Where history and nature meet”
Welcome to Gardiner, “Where history and progress meet”
Maine Farm Enterprise School, “Place-based learning for 21st Century Maine”; and “Sustainable, community based learning for the new economy”
Our own MBBA, “Where enterprise and sustainability converge”
Margaret Chase Smith Center, “Proudly serving Maine”
Merrymeeting Arts Center, “Art for everyone”
Shelter Institute, “Celebrating people and their homes”
Portland (OR) Classical Chinese Garden, “Never twice the same”
From Freeport’s Map, “Shop. Play. Dine. Stay.”
Maine General Health, “Your resource for life”
Pineland Farms: “Connecting community with the land”
Something different than vision or mission and tag lines; is this a “brand”?: Chewonki Wilderness Vacations for Adults and Families
“Chewonki has more than 95 years of experience introducing individuals and families to the legendary woods and waters of Maine and Canada. Our nature-based programs and adventures are renowned, and we take pride in offering experiences for adults and families who share our love for the outdoors.” and, “Chewonki believes that the most rewarding and fulfilling vacations are ones in which both mind and body receive the rest and stimulation needed for renewal. We invite you to join us for a Chewonki vacation.”
Brainstorming a Merrymeeting Brand
What describes or characterizes the communities of Merrymeeting Bay?
• concern for protecting the water, woods and open spaces
• growing our businesses without damaging quality of place
• being good stewards of our natural resources
• interest in growing existing traditional and high tech businesses
• interest in attracting recession resistant niche market businesses
• interest in buying local to support our agricultural businesses
• viable village service centers with a diversity downtowns and housing
• a skilled and creative workforce with support for artists and crafts persons
• commercial and cultural relationships with regional and global neighbors
• solid public and private schools and higher educational opportunities
• river towns sharing public access to water and the the sea
• location central to Bath-Brunswick, Lewiston-Auburn, and capital area markets
• reasonable and efficient interstate transportation access
• visible and viable creative economy with arts and crafts galleries
• working and recreational rural landscapes
• exciting and fun places to live and work
Summarizing the Merrymeeting (Bay) Brand?
• The river communities of Merrymeeting Bay are stewards of environment, business, education and relationships with regional and global neighbors. They are exciting and fun places to live and work.
• Water, woods, and open space are protected while viable village service centers provide skilled workers, comfortable lifestyles, traditional and high tech businesses, and solid educational opportunities for sustainable development.
• Community leaders and organizations sustain stewardship challenges and welcome new residents, forward-looking businesses and guests (tourists) with creative, historical, and recreational opportunities.
• Connecting sustainable resources, creative communities, traditional and high tech enterprise, and comfortable lifestyle with regional and global neighbors.
Restating the Merrymeeting (Bay) Brand?
The communities of Merrymeeting Bay are stewards of environment, business, and relationships with regional and global neighbors. Access to water, woods, and open space are protected. Viable village service centers provide skilled workers, traditional and high tech businesses, and solid educational opportunities. These resources work together to enhance quality of life and place and result in exciting and fun places to live and work. Community leaders support attraction of forward-looking businesses as well as welcoming new residents and visitors with artistic, historical, and recreational opportunities.
The Communities of Merrymeeting Bay
Great stewards, better neighbors, exciting life