In Wildomar We Trust

By: JOHN HUNNEMAN - Staff Writer | Thursday, January 24, 2008 11:10 PM PST ∞

Every city has one and in 12 days, if the good folks of Wildomar vote to incorporate, they'll need one too: a motto.

These days, high-paid public relations folks call it "branding."

In the modern world of economic development, branding is what cities must do to attract attention, bring in new business and tax dollars. If the motto says something about the people who live there, it's even better.

Mottos can be clever, witty, inspirational and just plain dumb.

Temecula has used "Old Traditions, New Opportunities" since incorporation in 1989 and it seems to have worked pretty well for them.

Murrieta was "Country Living at its Finest" when I moved there 20 years ago. Today, they're a "Great Place to Grow."

Lake Elsinore has changed a few times, too. The current slogan is "Dream Extreme."

A longtime Hemet resident told me the motto there is "A Nice Place to Die." I'm not sure if that's true, but that's what he said.

In Wildomar, the Chamber of Commerce uses "The Doors of Tradition Open to the Future."

Nothing about that is going to have people pulling off the freeway, buying a home or starting a business.

Because they need a motto, and as a new city won't be able to pay some fancy-pants PR firm, I offer to my good friends the Wildomartians these few suggestions:

We Put the "Do" in Wil-mar

Yep, That's Really What We're Called

The Farm and So Much More

Ancestral Home of Rutherford B. Hayes

The Soul of Southwest County

Our Martians Aren't the Only Reason to Visit

More Than Just a Pretty Name

We Don't Know What It Means Either

Because We Had to Call It Something

Experience Life in the 1880s

The Gateway to Lakeland Village

You Can't Say It Without Smiling

We're Just Wild About Omar

Free Beer

Admit it, Aren't You a Little Curious

Hockeytown, USA

Our Name Says it All

The Jewel of Riverside County

Not Quite the End of the Alphabet

Could Be Worse, Could be Elsinore

Contact columnist John Hunneman at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2603, or hunneman@californian.com.

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