London Free Press - City & Region - Out with the axe; in with wheat and waves
Out with the axe; in with wheat and waves
Thu, January 10, 2008
By DEBORA VAN BRENK, SUN MEDIA
GODERICH -- Huron County is adding some zip to its image.
A major makeover that includes a new logo and website has the county shelving its staid, 19th-century public face in favour of a bold, stylized visage.
Relegated to posterity is the old crest, which includes a walking plough, a mushroom-shaped wheat sheaf and an arm ominously wielding an axe.
That crest, curiously, shows no hint of the lake that first attracted settlers and continues to draw thousands to its shores each year.
The new image suggests a bold blue sky, white waves representing Lake Huron and a silhouette of trees underlined by a golden stalk of wheat.
"It shows that we are dynamic, forward-thinking and at the same time, it shows a great deal of respect for how we got here," said Huron County Warden John Bezaire.
County planner Carol Leeming, who headed the re-branding committee, said the logo and website are intended to show the "product, personality and promise" of the county.
They will also help the county's newly redesigned economic development department attract businesses and tourists to an area that dubs itself Ontario's West Coast.
Huron's rudimentary Internet presence started in 1998 and it had a first-generation website in 2003.
The revamped site -- www.huroncounty.ca with that ubiquitous new logo -- includes a searchable database of county departments, agendas, bylaws, tourist attractions and businesses.
Now residents can pay traffic tickets online, beach-goers can check lake water quality or get directions to their favourite inn and businesspeople can see what their factories or farms look like on an interactive aerial map.
Yesterday's big splash was accompanied by a three-dimensional logo carved in ice by Ice Cultures in Hensall.
But Huron isn't frozen in time, said Bezaire.
"Sometimes rural Canada is looked at as a pace behind everyone else," he said.
"This helps show we're progressive."
The old crest will still be used for ceremonial purposes.
The new logo will adorn county vehicles, signs and marketing material.
It was designed with the help of a Kitchener marketing firm, Two Blonde Chicks Inc.
