Mayor says Colfax needs better marketing

Residents of Colfax report a strong affection for their hometown. Now, the city needs to do a better job of sending that message to the world.

Mayor Todd Vanek Tuesday told a Chamber of Commerce luncheon crowd of 50 residents at the Colfax library that the city needs to improve its profile.

“We have to get other people excited about Colfax,” said Vanek. “If we want people to move here, if we want businesses to come, we don’t necessarily need to change. We just need to market it.”

Vanek cited the city’s recent parks survey which showed 75 percent of respondents spend their leisure time in Colfax.

“It changed my perception of what’s going on in Colfax,” he said.

Now the city needs to work on outside perception, he said.

The Colfax reputation as a speed trap, bedroom community or retirement community is something that needs to be countered by residents bragging about the town’s more positive aspects.

“We have to really get out of that image that we’re a bedroom community,” he said.

As for the infamous speed trap image, Vanek said the city may need to embrace it.

He said incoming Police Chief Rick McNannay is on board with a campaign to “get stopped” in Colfax for reasons other than speeding.

“We have to give them something to slow down for,” said Ann Marra, a local graphic designer who praised the city’s cultural and historic resources.

Debi Anderson, president of the Colfax Arts Council, agreed that the city needs to provide reasons for drivers to stop.

“When people come into town, they see the end,” she said.

Vanek said the city should provide more reasons for passing WSU traffic to get them to stop and shop before passing through to Pullman.

Vanek also said the city needs to better market itself as a home for post-graduate students at WSU. Grad students tend to be older and more professional, many with families, who don’t necessarily want to live among the undergrad party atmosphere in Pullman. Vanek was a doctoral student when he moved to Colfax a decade ago.

To grab those outside residents, the city’s web profile needs to improve, Vanek said.

He said the city’s Wikipedia page is the top result returned by a Google search of “Colfax, Washington,” followed by Whitman County’s web site.

He pointed to pictures of the flood control, the Codger Pole and an overview of the city’s valley on the Wikipedia page, saying they did not play up the city’s strong sense of community or its stunning surrounding landscape.

He urged residents to post beautiful pictures and videos of the city and surrounding areas and click on them early and often so they move to the top of Internet search results.

“We need to flood the web with positive things about Colfax,” he said.

That also includes emphasizing events around town, as well as those happening in surrounding communities.

That will lead to more tourists, more businesses and more potential residents seeing the town at its best and bringing their dollars here.

“We’ve got to bring in more external money if we’re going to continue to grow as a community,” the mayor said.