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As the world becomes smaller and smaller with the rise of globalization, improved technological communication and increased travel, small provincial cities are now being placed on the same playing field as their colossus counterparts in developing a reputation. The necessity to establish a position on this global marketplace, no matter how small the share may be, is urgent in securing an economic, social and cultural future.To guarantee the successful continuation of cities and regions, it is imperative that they establish a defining brand that unites the community and differentiates them from their competition, both large and small. Even minute towns and rural destinations need these brands to establish their presence and ensure that they are not relegated to a stagnant or declining status of a ghost town, or worse, a failure.Yet, the ability of smaller venues to develop large scale public relations and advertising campaigns is limited. Without the budget or coordinated infrastructure of large cities, small places are often unable to compete on such a large market. However, because of their incorporation into regions, these petite locales are able to piggyback off of the regional branding endeavors to give them a boost in the global marketing sphere. But even more important, they are able to galvanize their smaller populations, uniting them in common identity and allowing their brand to develop and evolve out of their own community, an effort that is not necessarily consciously created nor managed.As a result, the brands that come to signify the unique differentiation between small places and their small and large competition exist first to unite the local community and galvanize a guerilla marketing schemata. They then work to attract outsiders and develop the place as a destination.
Citation preview
LETTING THE GRASS GROW: SMALL TOWN BRANDING IN THE FINGER LAKES
APRIL 2008 BY ERIKA L. ECKSTROM
LETTING THE GRASS GROW: SMALL TOWN BRANDING IN THE FINGER LAKES
APRIL 2008
ERIKA L. ECKSTROM AMERICAN UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS
SECTIONS: INTRODUCTION .....................................................................................................................1
BACKGROUND .......................................................................................................................2
BRANDING ..........................................................................................................................10
LOCATION BRANDING .........................................................................................................14
TOURISM BRANDING ..........................................................................................................17
GEOGRAPHIC BRAND ..........................................................................................................24
EXPERIENCE TOURISM ........................................................................................................28
CULTURE MARKETING ........................................................................................................32
ITHACA’S ARTS ..................................................................................................................36
GREEN LIVING ....................................................................................................................44
FOOD IDENTITY ..................................................................................................................54
WINE ..................................................................................................................................64
COLLEGES AND EDUCATION ..............................................................................................67
AN INTERNATIONAL PRESENCE ..........................................................................................73
INNOVATION .......................................................................................................................76
FESTIVITIES AND A SENSE OF SELF ...................................................................................82
A WORD OF MOUTH CONCLUSION ....................................................................................86
REFERENCES ......................................................................................................................... i
INTRODUCTION
As the world becomes smaller and smaller with the rise of globalization, improved
technological communication and increased travel, small provincial cities are now being placed
on the same playing field as their colossus counterparts in developing a reputation. The necessity
to establish a position on this global marketplace, no matter how small the share may be, is urgent
in securing an economic, social and cultural future.
To guarantee the successful continuation of cities and regions, it is imperative that they
establish a defining brand that unites the community and differentiates them from their
competition, both large and small. Even minute towns and rural destinations need these brands to
establish their presence and ensure that they are not relegated to a stagnant or declining status of a
ghost town, or worse, a failure.
Yet, the ability of smaller venues to develop large scale public relations and advertising
campaigns is limited. Without the budget or coordinated infrastructure of large cities, small
places are often unable to compete on such a large market. However, because of their
incorporation into regions, these petite locales are able to piggyback off of the regional branding
endeavors to give them a boost in the global marketing sphere. But even more important, they are
able to galvanize their smaller populations, uniting them in common identity and allowing their
brand to develop and evolve out of their own community, an effort that is not necessarily
consciously created nor managed.
As a result, the brands that come to signify the unique differentiation between small
places and their small and large competition exist first to unite the local community and galvanize
1
a guerilla marketing schemata. They then work to attract outsiders and develop the place as a
destination.
BACKGROUND
As native of Ithaca, N.Y., I have always been impressed by my hometown. As I travel the
world, from international regions as remote Australia, Israel and Lithuania to domestic locales
such as San Francisco, New York City and Washington, D.C., I am always astounded to find that
people are familiar with Ithaca. And not only do they know where I am from, but they know the
words to Cornell’s Alma Mater, “High Above Cayuga’s Water,” they know of the local
vegetarian and vegan restaurant, Moosewood, and they know our catchphrase, “Ithaca is Gorges.”
As a result, I have begun to believe that though Ithaca may in fact have ‘gorges’, it is more than
that: Ithaca thinks globally and acts ‘gorgesly’, it’s own flavor of distinctiveness and reputation.
The Finger Lakes region of upstate New York consists of 14 counties that compose the
central band of the State between Pennsylvania and Lake Ontario. Tompkins County is located in
the southwestern zone of the Finger Lakes region on the southern tip of Cayuga Lake. The center
point for the county is the city of Ithaca, known for its two colleges, Cornell University and
Ithaca College, as well as its ecoconscious, artistic and intellectually minded consumer
community.
As of 2006, the county’s population consisted of 100,407 residents (U.S. Census Bureau,
2008b). The City of Ithaca’s population, consisting of 30,343 residents (U.S. Census Bureau,
2008a), makes up nearly one third of people living in the county. However, this measure of
Ithaca’s residents only represents half of the population actually living in the city. Cornell brings
2
in an additional 20,638 undergraduate, graduate and medical students to the area (Cornell
University, 2008d), and Ithaca College an additional 6,660 undergraduate and graduate students
(Ithaca College, 2007a). The local Tompkins Cortland Community College also enrolls 3,000
students annually (Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce, 2008). As a result nearly half of the
city’s population consists of temporary members.
As the only provincial city in the area, Ithaca is the hub around which the Finger Lakes
turns. Ithaca is practically in the center of a large loop of interstate highways: I81 to the east
going from Syracuse to Binghamton; I86 going from Binghamton through Corning to Bath;
I390 continuing from I86 to Rochester; and I90 finishing the loop from Rochester to Syracuse.
This location places Ithaca one hour from Syracuse, two from Rochester and four to both
Philadelphia, Pa., and New York City. Within this loop, Ithaca is the only city that has a resident
population of over 30,000 (and note that this does not even include the students). Of the other
sizable towns, Auburn comes close with 27,766 residents but houses no transient student
population. The other cities do not even come close, Geneva boasting only 13,367, Seneca Falls
with 9,291, Waterloo with 7,811 and Skaneateles a whopping 7,380 (U.S. Census Bureau,
2008c). With industry, universities, travel infrastructure, and retail outlets, Ithaca supports a
number of smaller peripheral communities. People work in Ithaca, shop in Ithaca, go to the
movies in Ithaca, eat out in Ithaca, stay in Ithaca while visiting and use Ithaca as a launching pad
to discover the surrounding area, products, services, and venues. Not only do they come to Ithaca
but they consider themselves Ithacans (McPhetters, 2008).
3
This influx of surrounding residents that come on a regular basis for daily trips to Ithaca
is three fold: work, commerce and tourism . According to Jean McPheeters, the president of the
Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce, “We are importing into our county on a daily basis
somewhere about 14,000 people to go to work in the county because we don’t have enough
people for all the jobs we have,” (McPheeters, 2008). Secondly are the consumerist needs that
Ithaca quells with its small local stores as well as its bigbox retail outlets.
Stephen Kimball, the director of marketing and development for Tompkins County Area
Development, is one of these out of county workers, living in Burdett in Schuyler County and
commuting to Ithaca via bus or car for his job. He notes that not only does he come for work, but
simply to buy the products he needs for his household: “It’s hard to find good cheese in Schuyler
County [and the other contiguous counties] so we come into town and shop. We can’t get chicken
feed in Schuyler County, so we come to Agway [in Ithaca],” (Kimball, 2008). He illustrates that
even the farmers in the surrounding area need to make the trips to the petite metropolis to simply
to do their business, buy their farming goods, and repair their equipment.
Because of the multiplicity of places to stay, proliferation of restaurants and diverse
entertainment, Ithaca has an impressively large carrying capacity for a small provincial city that is
well beyond that of the surrounding area. The 21 hotels, five inns, 54 bed and breakfasts, three
state parks, 16 privately owned rental residences and four camping grounds located in the Ithaca
vicinity offer a total of 1,826 rooms and suites, 56 cabins and cottages, and 597 designated
campsites. In total this provides Ithaca with a temporary housing capacity well over 7,000 people
4
(Ithaca/Tompkins County Convention and Visitor Bureau, 2008a). Then there are the 162 dining
facilities that provide unlimited options ranging from vegan delicacies to exotic feasts.
Much of this tourist infrastructure is developed to support the colleges during their
graduation and reunion weekends, but yet it provides an excellent hub from which people can
depart to visit wineries, family, parks, small neighboring villages, and everything else that
surrounds the city. And upon return to Ithaca, visitors have the luxury of participating in the
quaint offerings Ithaca possesses: the downtown area better known as “The Commons,” the local
playhouses, the independent movie theaters, and the parks and waterfalls.
Because of this, the colleges have developed a large presence in the community and as a
result many of the local residents are affiliated with or employed by one of the colleges.
Combined, Ithaca College and Cornell employ 11,005 residents (Tompkins County Chamber of
Commerce, 2008).
The colleges, especially Cornell University, actively recruit international students, faculty
and employees, bringing a range of different people to the local population. As a result of this
influx, there is a significant international, particularly Asian, population living in Tompkins
County and the Ithaca area. This diversity has been well accepted by the community and the
fusion of different people – ranging from local rural farmers to academics, foreigners, urban
dwellers, elderly people, conservatives, and liberals – has become a source of pride and identity
for the area.
Diversity and options have always been a strongpoint for Ithaca. Despite the presence of
diversity, Ithaca remains predominantly white, AngloSaxon makeup. Yet, Ithaca has always
5
been highly progressive in embracing both cultural and ethnic diversity. The birthplace of the first
intercollegiate Greekletter fraternity established for Black college students in 1906 (Cornell
University, 2003) and in the same region as Seneca Falls, home to the first Women’s Rights
Convention in 1848 (National Park Service, 2008), the area has a longstanding history in
implementing and accepting diversity and human rights and giving people lifestyle alternatives.
While there is a large influence that the colleges bring to the community and local
economy and population, it is not necessarily the main feature that defines the county’s way of
life. Ithaca and the surrounding county have a large economic base in agriculture, viticulture and
ecotourism. The landscape, consisting of breathtaking views, rich forests, and deep waterfalls
carved by the glaciers ages ago, are also home to four state parks with deep, dramatic gorges,
swimming areas and camping, hiking, and picnicking facilities.
The lush rolling hills are home to smallscale local farms and wineries that are well
incorporated into the local economy. Many of these local agricultural institutions have been
heavily influenced by the rise in the popularity of the area’s cooperative markets and organic
farming techniques, as well as the scientific innovations of Cornell’s landgrant college. As a
result, many of the agricultural and artistic products produced in Tompkins County are
profoundly sustainable and “green.”
Ithaca has always been on the cutting edge of creativity and innovation. The local area
was one of the first communities to have telephones, electric lights and street cars, partly because
of Cornell University presence in the community, but also because local residents have always
been seen as visionaries.
6
In 1977, the Ithaca Festival was created to highlight these aspects and symbolize Ithaca
and the region’s people, values, and culture. The emphasis on local music and arts is amplified
only by the fact that everything is literally created in Ithaca’s “backyard.” The lively celebration
enables the community to express itself and illustrate this progressive upstate New York
community at the base of Cayuga Lake just as it is: composed of artists, farmers, students,
dreamers, absent–minded professors, writers, activists, musicians, teachers, Tibetan monks, belly
dancers, happy families and hundreds and hundreds of rusted, but still serviceable Volvos.
During the same time period that the Ithaca Festival was blossoming into a sustainable,
local entity, the town also was hit by a grassroots branding endeavor that snowballed into a
creature of its own magnitude and power: ‘Ithaca is Gorges.’
In the late 1970s, Howard Cogan’s local, Ithaca based advertising company was invited
to develop a theme for Ithaca’s community to use to promote itself. ‘Ithaca is Gorges’ was born
out of Cogan’s brainstorming conversation and has since developed into a slogan that Ithacans
and Ithaca fans around the globe have united behind in full force. ‘Ithaca is Gorges’ defines the
‘10 square miles’ said to be ‘surrounded by reality’ that makes up Ithaca, N.Y. The slogan
reflects the natural beauty of Ithaca and the wonder of its 150 trademark waterfalls and gorges,
and now, after more than 25 years, the catchphrase has become part of the local culture.
But it all started with just a handful of greenandwhite shirts. Cogan, who taught
advertising and public relations at Ithaca College, decided to print up some ‘Ithaca is Gorges’
shirts for his associates and some friends. The cutesy inside joke appealed to a larger crowd and
7
now everyone in Ithaca seems to own a shirt, a cap, a mug or a bumper sticker with the slogan,
and students who resist the urge tend to purchase before they leave.
According to Simon Anholt (2005), a well known location branding theorist, most of the
slogans developed to represent locations are “in fact the sad result of a committee’s attempt to
keep everyone happy by packaging several conflicting agendas into a single statement, and it’s
not surprising they often end up sounding bland,” (Anholt, 2005, p.127). However, this is not the
case of Ithaca’s ‘Ithaca is Gorges’ slogan, a locally created identity building phrase that
represents local priorities and individuality created by a local man to represent all local
characteristics. The slogan has taken root so deeply because of its ability to represent everything
from the native landscape to the products, consciousness and culture.
Despite efforts to veer away and develop new brands, ‘Ithaca is Gorges’ always
resurfaces as the conqueror and the most powerful brand for the area. According to McPheeters,
“We have all come back to ‘Ithaca is Gorges’ for several reasons: one is that it is a tagline
that’s known. It is internationally known. We have examples from newspapers seeing
people wearing the ‘Ithaca is Gorges’ teeshirt all over the world. You can hardly travel
anywhere where you don’t see an ‘Ithaca is Gorges’ bumper sticker… It’s a known label
and because Cornell and Ithaca College are here we have this ever increasing number of
people who understand what Ithaca is and have been here and lived here for
sometime,” (McPheeters, 2008).
8
The bumper stickers and teeshirts bearing the logo have been seen around the world, from
France to China, and after Howard Cogan’s death in February 2008, articles and blogs were
published in countries such as Moldova (Moldova.org, 2008) and England (Kweskin, 2008).
What continues to spark this catchphrase’s tipping point is simply its accessibility.
Cogan graciously gave permission to anyone who wanted to reproduce the slogan, as long as the
original form and lettering were used. No fees. No rights. There is no official or legal link that
attaches Cogan’s name to the brand. This completely goes against what many consider to be the
maxim of place branding: the need for a coordinated, well developed ownership, and highly
organized management of place campaigns (Anholt, 2005). ‘Ithaca is Gorges’, thanks to Cogan,
defied tradition in a way that not only placed the power of the local brand in the hands of its true
owners, the public audience, but also typified Ithaca’s progressive, activist attitude, an act that
was incorporated into the brand image itself. As a result, the grassroots momentum of the ‘Ithaca
is Gorges’ brand pushed itself to the hilt without any organized management, promotion or
spending.
However, to say that this underground buildup is solely responsible for the city and
county’s development into an unexpected, well branded area without management is to be naive.
This slogan and town’s promotion is interconnected to a web of promotional campaigns and
activities throughout the Finger Lakes region, a region in which Ithaca is heavily dependant on
for national and international promotion. The area is highly promoted through a number of joint
Chamber of Commerce ventures as well as the Finger Lakes Visitor Connection, which works to
9
gather research and balance a multiplicity of regional marketing endeavors ranging from
promotion of wineries, historic sites, health spas, and nature reserves and parks.
BRANDING
The human memory is only capable of retaining a limited amount of information. As a
result, we are forced to construct summaries of the many tidbits of knowledge we actually do
absorb, packaging them tightly and consolidating the overload. Often, these shorthand specks of
memory are ignored and relegated to a gigantic matrix of items, people and places that we will
never have, by no means know, and on no account visit. Yet, we remember them nonetheless, and
armed with these few simply clichés, we are able to develop the background of our opinions and
navigate through the complexity of the modern world (Anholt, 2005; Anholt 2007). However,
there comes a point when these summaries just will not suffice, a time when our interest is
piqued; and it is this point that forces us to delve into these specks of simplistic knowledge,
expanding them and refining the impressions that have for so long gone undeveloped.
This is the evolution of brands – the names, terms, signs, symbols and designs that make
up the summary of information in our minds to help us identify goods, services and places so that
we can differentiate them from one another. These brands are the backbone of our opinions and
enable us to develop and assign image to the world around us. According to David Weaver and
Laura Lawton, “Image is the sum of beliefs, attitudes and impressions held by a person or group
of people towards some phenomenon,” (Weaver and Lawton, 2006, p. 105). These images are
malleable and controllable. What transforms a simple opinion into a full fledged image is when it
is considered in combination with its name, identity and reputation. It is then that it becomes a
10
brand, and by its creation it becomes a phenomenon that can be planned, designed, communicated
and built upon to develop and manage reputation (Anholt, 2007).
Through management of a brand, the brand identity evolves. Brand identity is the core
concept of the product that management of the brand works to clearly and distinctively express
(Anholt, 2007). What is particular about brand identity is that it becomes the stable core
personality and purpose that drives the brand no matter how advertising strategies,
communication tones, positioning statements and even logos are changed to fit target markets.
The brand image is the part that always remains intact (Crockett and Wood, 2003).
As Nicholas Ind (2003) aptly notes, “The reason brands have become so important is
because they are so good at helping to create efficient exchange,” (Ind, 2003, p.4). They allow the
concepts of the brand identity to be packaged in space and time to capture a moment in society,
link it to a product, service or place, and store it in the cognitive processes of the audience as the
brand image. When we manage brands effectively we are also managing humanity and society as
well (Ryder 2003).
Brands in themselves are microworlds of society, representing the values and culture
that surrounds them and incorporating this culture into the brand image. According to Ian Ryder
(2003), “The complex social rules and behavioral patterns are all pathways that brands must
tread,” (Ryder, 2003, p.145). Brands must behave much like people, respecting cultural and
communication norms that are so deeply engrained in society; and like people, brands must
incorporate historical context and historical knowledge into its identity, thereby completely
embracing its assumed humanity.
11
Yet, as mentioned before, all of this identity must be digestible and easy to process into a
brand image – and more importantly, easy to remember. A brand must take the rich and complex
information that is central to the brand information and synthesize the many different elements
into a single package. According to Simon Anholt (2005):
“The true art of branding is distillation, the art of extracting the concentrated essence of
something complex, so that its complexity can always be extracted back out of the
distillate, but it remains portable and easily memorable. The distillate, rather than actually
attempting to contain all the detail of the country in question, is simply the common
thread, the genetic constant, which underlies the basic commonality between the different
parts of the brand.” (Anholt, 2005, p.128)
The ‘Ithaca is Gorges’ slogan, for example, is able to condense the natural beauty, eco
consciousness, innovative atmosphere, agricultural economy, business development, and culture
with the intellectual wit of the local universities, creating a distilled and digestible package that
continues to retain and communicate the embedded complexity of the brand.
To retain this complexity, there must be an unusual degree of objectivity, or as Anholt
(2003) describes, “The ability to see yourself as other do, and to accept that this is, at least in
commercial terms, more important than the way you see yourself,” (Anholt, 2003, p.31). This
means that all aspects of identity need to be acknowledged, including the more negative
characteristics.
Complexity can also be added in a simple manner by partnering the identity of other
brands in cognitive association sets. According to Graham Brown, Laurence Chalip, Leo Jago and
12
Trevor Mules (2003), brand association sets have been found to be useful descriptors of brand
identity: “When two brands are paired, the image of one brand can be strengthened when its
association set shares common elements,” (Brown, Chalip, Jago and Mules, 2003, p.285). He
adds that, “A transfer of brand image from one brand to another occurs when consumers
assimilate a node from one brand’s association set into the association set for the brand with
which it is paired,” (Brown, Chalip, Jago and Mules, 2003, p.285). Through these association
sets, brands can be echoed in consumers' minds when the partner brand is being consumed.
Furthermore, they can also create added strength in their numbers. This cognitive synergy in
brand alliances and associations can become more than the sum of either brand’s products.
The value created in brand associations and brand identity is realized in brand equity,
which Simon Anholt (2007) describes as:
“The idea that if a company, product or service acquires a positive, powerful and solid
reputation, this becomes an asset of enormous value: probably more valuable, in fact,
than all the tangible assets of the organization itself, because it represents the company’s
ability to continue to trade at a healthy margin for as long as its brand image stays intact.”
(Anholt, 2007, p.6)
Brand equity gives brands added value over the mere commodities and products because they are
an infinitely sustainable resource. Their value resides in the minds of those that consume them,
not in the hands of those that produced them. As a result, once the cognitive shortcut is
developed, and as long as it remains intact, the value of a brand remains at a stable, if not
13
increasing in worth. And luckily, once created, these shortcuts are surprisingly difficult to destroy
(Anholt, 2003).
PLACE BRANDING
The power and value of brands is often associated with commercial products and the
service sector; however, the same cognitive and identity components can also be applied to
locations. Place branding is the use of commercial branding techniques to add brand equity to
towns, cities and even countries.
Place branding is simply the conscious (or unconscious) use of publicity and marketing to
communicate a geographic location’s identity and image to a target audience (Morgan, Pritchard
and Pride, 2003). But despite the similarities of place promotion to consumerism the result is
much deeper. A location’s brand is, in essence, a metaphor for the richness possessed by that area
and the emotive and cognitive value given to it by people – any people.
Just like commercial brands, place brands are perceived in certain ways, both rightly and
wrongly, by groups of people. But unlike commercial products and services, place branding is not
merely about selling and earning profit. Place branding works to build reputation and establish
sustainable security for an area and those who reside, visit and work there. Place brands thus
embrace an entirely new level of breadth and depth that commercial marketing cannot approach
(Anholt, 2007).
A place brand’s agenda is by far more difficult, forcing a need for increased creativity,
consistency, truthfulness and effectiveness, with a higher level of liability. Furthermore, there is a
wider range of difficult fields that must be approached in place branding that the commercial
14
arena can literally ignore. These fields range include development, promotion of tourism, inward
investment, talent and residential recruitment, external relations, social and cultural policy, urban
and environmental planning, media relations and more (Anholt, 2007). Yet, despite the difficulty
that this holistic total branding offers, the rewards are enormous, far outreaching the effectiveness
of any commercial campaign (Morgan, Pritchard and Pride, 2003).
Because the location brand is a descriptive impression, the image associated with the
place must be one that is grounded in reality. Michael F. Smith (2003) states, “Most
contemporary public relations research argues that one cannot ‘create’ an image; rather, places
must use what exists or can exist in the community and communicate about that ‘truth’,” (Smith,
2003, p.264). Thus, every location must use what it has readily available to communicate its
value to the rest of society. Luckily, locations have many resources to pull from. Every location is
able to develop its image from its geography, history, art, music, famous residents, industry, food
and innovation. By using a diversity of local aspects, a place brand is able to accumulate a
complexity that allows different angles of the location to be interwoven into a complex fabric.
This fabric leads to the development of message integrity that can give people images and
information about the area and can develop a shortcut of understanding that embodies answers to
all kinds of questions: from what the place looks like; what sort of people live three; what there is
to do; and a picture of the climate, food, culture and history (Anholt, 2007). These answers
resonate in the minds of consumers, establishing sustainability.
The relationship that people, both local and distant, develop with a place can have a
significant and longterm impact on the future of the location’s status on the worldwide
15
marketplace. As Anholt (2003) notes, “Brand can profoundly shape its economic, cultural and
political destiny,” (Anholt, 2003, p.28). The brand acts as a powerful ambassador in
communicating the location’s image to the external (and may I add, internal) arena, particularly
where the distribution of ideas and products has an explicit location of origin. Working as an
representative for the place’s ambitions, the brand encourages inward investment and acts as a
magnet for talent, attracting both new residents and returning members of the community
(Anholt, 2003).
This emotional connection and identification is key in the development of the brand.
Nigel Morgan and Annette Pritchard (2003) aptly stated, “The battle for consumers in tomorrows
destination marketplace will be fought not over price but over hearts and minds,” (Morgan and
Pritchard, 2003, p. 60). The success of a brand lies in its ability to enhance its perceived utility,
desirability and quality by building off the social, emotional and identity value that it gives to its
consumers. These added values are the result of the branding effort – the ‘be it’ phenomenon that
has quickly replaced the ‘buy it’ mentality. People do not simply visit a location, they buy into
what it represents though an emotional relationship.
As a result, the good name and reputation of the place does not simply aid consumers in
the millions of purchasing decisions that they make, but affects choices and attitudes on a much
larger scale: from companies deciding where to build their infrastructure to areas that others
choose to market their products. Thus the reputation that location builds has a direct and
measurable impact on its engagement in the marketplace in both economic, social, political and
cultural ways (Anholt, 2007). It is not simply just a buying, selling or tourist impact and just like
16
a manufacturer’s brand, a place brand provides the umbrella of trust, a guarantee of quality that
shades the number of subbrands that it houses. These subbrands can be anything from
universities and companies to social initiatives and products. They rely on the vitality of the main
place brand in order to keep their own brand intact.
TOURISM BRANDING
Often place branding is perceived by the outside as heavily reliant on tourism for its
establishment. Though it does involve tourism to some extent, the overvaluing of tourism in a
location brand inevitably may increase economic profits but will also develop an irrelevant,
unhelpful and even damaging image that resonates in other external initiatives, especially
promoting trade or inward investment (Anholt, 2005). The result is the need for the development
of holistic brands that benefit both the tourism industry as well other local industries and the
entire reputation on the worldwide marketplace.
However, it is also foolish to assume that tourism is not a major concern for any location
– it brings outside money, opportunities for cultural sharing and a free flow of new ideas and
perspectives into any community. Even if a destination is too expensive, too inaccessible, too
environmentally sensitive or too small to play host to a large number of visitors, a tourist brand
can still act as an indispensable channel to communicate, enlighten, and attract audiences about
am image location (Anholt, 2007).
In the United States, tourism is big business. In 2002 more than one billion people
participated in domestic trips and an additional 48.5 million visitors came to the United States
17
from other countries (Slater, 2003). In 2004, tourism accounted for more than 10 percent of the
global GDP, approximately $5.5 trillion in direct and indirect profit. As a result, tourism is on the
same global magnitude for profitability as agriculture and mining (Weaver and Lawton, 2006).
According to David Weaver and Laura Lawton (2006), tourism is the sum of the
processes, actions, and outcomes arising from the interactions among “tourists, tourism suppliers,
host governments, host communities, origin governments, universities, community colleges and
nongovernmental organizations, in the process of attracting, transporting, hosting and managing
tourists and other visitors,” (Weaver and Lawton, 2003, p.3). The diversity of components
incorporated into tourism means that tourism is strongly connected to almost every field of study,
from history, sociology, anthropology and psychology to political science, economics, law,
business management and marketing, and of course agriculture, ecology and geography (Weaver
and Lawton, 2006).
Tourism also offers a distinctive and specific communication channel that no other
channel can offer to a place: a set of people who have first hand knowledge of a place and can
bring back these experiences in the form of memories to share with people in their hometowns.
Even more, the tourists do not simply spread their memories, but also the tangible objects that
they collected during their travels. Tourists are often the vehicle for the worldwide spread of
items affiliated with or representing the brand, such as ‘Ithaca is Gorges’ tshirts, mugs, and
bumper stickers. Nothing screams awareness building like a bright green branded sweatshirt
bearing location’s name.
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What makes these tourism products, as well as local arts, crafts and food, particularly
important is that they are characterized by their inseparability from the location they come from.
Tourism products and services are produced and consumed in the same places, furthering the
emotional significance of the location every time they are consumed – for both residents and
tourists alike(Weaver and Lawton, 2006).
Yet, to eventuate an actual visit, potential tourists must obviously be aware of a location’s
existence, but furthermore, they must have an understanding of what makes it different. This
differentiation is the strongest factor in establishing the reputation tourist destinations, as well as
a place brand.
Fred Bonn, director of Ithaca/Tompkins County Conventions and Visitors Bureau,
classifies tourism infrastructure into two types: attractions and attractors. “An attractor is an
element of our community that causes people to get up and move their feet, get into their car and
drive here specific to that purpose. Cornell is an attractor. The state parks are an attractor. The
lake is an attractor. Attractions are the things that people discover that enrich their visit while they
are here,” (Bonn, 2008). Both attractions and attractors support the differentiation of one location
from another and develop the location as a branded tourism spot – or even just a great place to
live.
These attractions and attractors can be further divided into preexisting and created
assets. Preexisting assets are those that are usually tied to geography and climate: the grandeur of
the waterfalls, the fish in the lakes, the wind for sailing, the mountains and forests, and the fertile
ground. Created assets are generally more connected to the entertainment and tourism support
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infrastructure: playhouses and theatres, universities, bed and breakfasts, monuments, and
museums. Each distinction carries a different weight in individual tourism markets but each
provide distinctly appealing resources for locations. As a result, marketing a place to tourists must
be attentive to all the small and surprisingly important details associated with the tourism
industry.
Weaver and Lawton (2006) argue that there are 11 attributes that both preexisting and
created assets possess: ownership, orientation, authenticity, scarcity, status, market, image,
context, spatial configuration, accessibility and carrying capacity. All of these elements carry
with them distinctive characteristics that affect their use within the tourism industry.
The first two attributes, ownership and orientation, are connected to the way that assets
are operated. Assets can be either privately or publicly owned and oriented in a nonprofit or for
profit way. These characteristics have a large impact on the way that the asset is managed as well
as the way that it is experienced (Weaver and Lawton, 2006).Each method of carries a distinct
positive and negative value. Publicly owned assets tend to be less dependent on visitation for the
financial stability and management sustainability and often more oriented towards the nonprofit
sector, allowing them to be highly stable. Their management may lack the sparkle that private
assets possess, yet they are reliable and less expensive – which also means that they are often
more populated and crowded. Private assets tend to be more capitalistic in their financial base and
more dependant on consumers. As a result, the experience is often higher quality in order to
attract the consumers, which in turn is reflected in higher price. Furthermore, access is generally
either more limited or reserved in nature.
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Weaver and Lawton (2006) argue that authenticity is the genuineness or imitation
characteristics an asset possesses. Often this aspect is also connected to scarcity because genuine
attracting assets tend to be more unique and therefore harder to come by. Imitation assets, on the
other hand, are more ubiquitous and thus easier to find in other areas. Weaver and Lawton’s use
of status indicates that resources are either primary and iconic or secondary and peripheral. This
is similar to the distinction between attractors and attractions and also ties back to the authenticity
and scarcity of the item giving primary status to those that are more genuine and unique.
Weaver and Lawton’s (2006) use of market and image is twofold, applying both to
tourists and residents. Resources can apply to specific markets for both local residents and tourist
visitors. Often these markets are either niche or inclusive. Image can either be familiar or
unfamiliar and negative or positive. The way people envision these resources plays heavily into
the way that they are used for both local and tourist purposes (Weaver and Lawton, 2006). Often
residents especially have negative images of attracting assets that are developed primarily for
tourists, avoiding them and seeing them as unfamiliar in connection to their local identity. This
illustrates the context that is associated with the resources, the compatibility or incompatibility
with the local surroundings.
The last three attributes are area dependent. Spatial configuration implies that assets can
either be grouped into nodal clusters or spread out in an areal orientation. This often can affect
their accessibility by impacting the amount of space and time that each offers, and even the
affordability. It also can impact the carrying capacity by providing the amount of room available
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to provide services, housing and recreation freedom without having an impact on the local
environment (Weaver and Lawton, 2006).
Seasonality can also be a powerful pull factor for tourists, bringing visitors to enjoy the
cyclic pleasures that an area has to offer. According to Richard D. Mitchell and C. Michael Hall
(2000), there are five forms of tourism seasonality: natural, sporting season, institutionalized,
inertia or tradition and social pressure or fashion.
Natural seasonality is heavily connected to climate (Mitchell and Hall, 2003), especially
in the higher latitudes. In general people are more drawn to particular climates in specific places –
and this does not always mean warmer temperatures. For instance, in wine regions tourists are
drawn to the harvest season in late fall and many people who live in warm regions find appeal in
visiting northern areas during the winter to experience snowfall and the winter wonderland it
provides.
Sporting season can also be influenced by climactic and natural cycles but can also
dissociate from environmental factors (Mitchelll and Hall, 2000). Examples of climactic sporting
seasons include surfing in the summer or skiing in the winter. An example of nonclimactic
sporting seasons include sporting events where people routinely return to locations to watch their
favorite teams or sports stars (Louisville for the Kentucky Derby, New York City for the U.S.
Tennis Open, Watkins Glen for NASCAR, and Newport for the America’s Cup Regatta).
Institutionalized seasonality reflects the sociopolitical calendar. Examples would include
the summer and winter recesses that accompany the school year or the public holidays that enable
people to take off of work to travel (Mitchell and Hall, 2003). I would add that this also includes
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an element of religion such as when people congregate for Christmas, make journeys to their
religious Mecca, or spend Rosh Hashanah with their families out of town.
Inertia and tradition seasonality occurs when people continue to travel despite a change in
context (Mitchell and Hall, 2003). An example of this is when parents continue to take trips
during the school holidays even when their children have graduated.
Lastly are social pressure and fashion (Mitchell and Hall, 2003). Locations can be
particularly susceptible for two reasons: locations themselves can fall in and out of fashion (for
instance Cancun has replaced Orlando as a popular college spring break destination) and the
activities affiliated with destinations can become less popular. Both reasons are often connected
to the choices that the privileged elite make in their tourism decisions, which are then reflected in
the general populaces devoted imitation of their actions.
A destination brand packages these desired placeproducts in terms of image and distinct
attractions and through the packaging creates a prearrival framework for tourists to see and
understand the location. Can Seng Ooi (2003) says, “Basically, the brand offers a story around
which tourists can build their experiences. The brand helps tourists to develop a consistent and
meaningful sense of place, and offers a ‘brand experience’,” (Seng Ooi, 2003, p.256). In other
words, preconceived ideas and previsit images form the basis for tourists to interpret their own
experiences in a location. Slater (2003) even argues that these preconceived notions can motivate
tourists to be more engaged or inclined to partake in local culture and assets. The result is that
brand puts a sort of glaze on the lenses through which tourists view the destination, directing their
attention and shaping their tourism experiences (Seng Ooi, 2003).
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In the case of Ithaca, these rosecolored glasses enables tourists to see Ithaca as the sort
of utopia that is connected to its brand: a paradise for ‘green’ consciousness, arts and music,
wine, academia and local foods and farmer’s markets. The result is that the tourists are able to see
past the inadequacies that would come from the disillusionment of a longterm stay and process
Ithaca only as they are told they would by the brand.
GEOGRAPHIC BRAND
On a basic level, what creates a city’s appeal is the literal, the tangible, and people’s
perception of it. Opinions are reliant on perceptions of how pleasant it is to be outdoors and
wander the city, how beautiful the appearance and what is offered to residents, visitors,
businesses and immigrants. These tangibles can vary from landscape to public amenities and
town architecture to educational opportunities (Anholt, 2007), but in the end their presence, or
lack thereof, can be a strong source of competitive advantage for the location. After all, the
combination can add up to a unique talking point and, as Joseph Cortright (2006) points out, “In a
world of global competition, a strategy of ‘pretty much the same, maybe cheaper’ is a recipe for
mediocrity and economic stagnation,” (Cortright, 2006, p.3).
For Ithaca, N.Y., the basic advantage is local geographic and surface level resources.
Ithaca is engulfed by a region of natural beauty and environmental splendor. The geography of
the Tompkins County is an extreme asset in terms of atmosphere, tourist attraction, and
irreplaceable distinctiveness.
Ithaca possesses a truly distinctive topography that sets its appearance apart, particularly
in the realm of tourism. Carved by a pair of Ice Ages, glaciers molded the landscape into a
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dramatic and awe inspiring series of 11 narrow, horizontal lakes now known as the Finger Lakes.
The retreating glaciers left behind a gently undulating landscape that, with time, streams and
rivulets carved into, leaving deep gorges in the shale subsoil and regolith. The deep gorges are
filled with multiple series of waterfalls that cascade down to the steep mountainsides.
As a result of this striking scenery, Tompkins County is home to four state parks, seven
state and national forests, and six other parks and trail systems. Furthermore, three of the four
state parks are gorge parks making Tompkins County home to half of all the gorge parks in the
entire New York State (Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce, 2008).
This landscape has become one of the key attractions for residents and visitors alike and
parks and striking scenery represent an incredible pull factor. According to Jean McPheeters, the
president of the Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce, the chamber has conducted a number
of studies and found that next to the colleges with their student and parent visitors, the main
reason that people come to Ithaca is the outdoors. They come to see the gorgeous lake and the
cascading waterfalls (McPheeters, 2008). This is altogether supported by the rising national and
international trend towards natural tourism. According to David Weaver and Laura Lawton
(2006), parks and protected areas are currently among the most popular tourism attractions on
both the international and domestic tourism marketplace.
Weaver and Lawton also note that of all significant tourism attractions there is one type
of attraction that claims a particular significance in its ability to define an area: “Rivers and
waterfalls. Waterfalls in particular hold a strong inherent aesthetic appeal for many people, and
often constitute a core iconic attraction around which secondary attractions, and sometimes entire
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resort communities, are established,” (Weaver and Lawton, 2006, p.133). Ithaca lays claim to
over 150 of these aesthetic beauties within a 10 mile radius from the downtown district, not
including the small waterfalls that have not been named. Many of these waterfalls are even
located within the downtown district itself (Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce, 2008).
Taughannock Falls contributes largely to this appeal with its larger than life presence. Its 215 foot
height gives Taughannock Falls 33 feet more freefalling vertical drop than Niagara Falls and
places it as the highest freefalling waterfall in the Northeast and one of the highest waterfalls of
any kind east of the Rocky Mountains (Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce, 2008; Pratt
and Haine, 2007).
The beautiful landscape offers the perfect setting for the outdoor enthusiast. The vast
pastoral backdrop has only been emphasized by the local community’s efforts to make it
accessible, not only for tourist use but for their own as well. The State Forests are littered with
hiking trails for trekkers of all calibers and a number of them are accessible to the onslaught of
rugged mountainbikers. In fact, in 2002 Bike Magazine named Ithaca one of the five best
mountain biking towns in America (Pratt and Haine, 2007). For the onroad bikers there is the 87
mile long Scenic Byway, a roadway encircling Cayuga Lake, which offers the perfect long
distance ride past the Cayuga Lake wineries and the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge at the
opposite end of the lake (Cayuga Lake Scenic Byway, 2007).
The Central Finger Lakes Region is also the home of the crown jewel of trekking in the
New York State: The Finger Lakes Trail. The trail is 562.9 miles long, reaching from the New
York State border with Pennsylvania in Allegany State Park to the Long Path in the Catskill
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Forest Preserve. In addition to the main trail, there are five branch trails and 15 loop trails that
extend the main trail by 236 miles (Finger Lakes Tourism Alliance, 2007). The result is that the
hiker’s perfect trail arches across the southern end of the Finger Lakes going directly through
Ithaca.
The Finger Lakes National Forest offers not only 33.75 miles of hiking and biking, but
opportunities for snowmobiling and fourwheeling on 12.5 miles of their trail system, horseback
riding on 24.5 miles, and crosscountry skiing on 31.5 miles (USDA Forest Service, 2008). There
are also three railroads that have been converted into wilderness walks and recreation trails: the
Jim Schung Trail, East Hill Recreation Way, and South Hill Recreation Way (Ithaca/Tompkins
County Convention and Visitors Bureau, 2008a).
For the sportsman, there is ample hunting and fishing. Hunters enjoy the abundance of
whitetail deer, Canadian geese, ducks and wild turkey. Fishers have many fishing options with
the 40 mile long Cayuga Lake that spans across 42,496 acres, as well as the 102 miles of trout
streams, 28 miles of warm water streams and various small lakes and ponds (Ithaca/Tompkins
County Convention and Visitors Bureau, 2008a). All together these lakes and tributaries offer
128 species of fish. Sports Afield magazine even named Cayuga Lake one of the top 10 bass
fishing lakes (Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce, 2008). In 2001 Fish and Fly Magazine
also named Ithaca as an area for the best fly fishing in North America (Stoff, 2008).
The result is that the simple location is enough to define Ithaca and the area around it. Its
natural beauty and well preserved environmentally clean areas offer the brand in itself. The
strength of the message that nature has bestowed on Ithaca’s presence shows itself through the
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way the city has been designed around the natural landmarks and the way that the people use and
cherish the environmental benefits of the region. It is this message and strength that gave Howard
Cogan his utmost inspiration and it is why the topography was a natural muse for the local brand:
‘Ithaca is Gorges.’
EXPERIENCE TOURISM
Jan Slater (2003) noted, “The branded destination is an experience, not just a place to
go,” (Slater, 2003, p.227). More and more people are attracted not just to a place, but how it is
interpreted into an experience. This applies not only to tourists, but to residents as well. People’s
time is becoming more and more limited. “Choice of holiday destination is a significant lifestyle
indicator for today’s aspirational consumers and the places where they choose to spend their
squeezed vacation time and hard earned income increasingly have to have emotional appeal, high
conversational capital and even celebrity value,” (Morgan, Pritchard and Pride, 2003, p.4). People
do not want to simply hear the physical attributes, but experience them and all that surrounds
them.
Niche tourism is growing in significance as people turn to experience models of travel.
According to Shane R. Crockett and Leiza J. Wood (2003), “As travelers become more
experienced, they are seeking more personalized and interactive experiences,” (Crockett and
Wood, 2003, p.196). Tourists are no longer looking for the carbon copied white sandy beaches or
the simple presence of mountains and lakes; they are looking for the more distinctive
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sociocultural and active aspects of locations. A key driver for experience travel is that people are
now looking to fulfill their passions through travel and these passions can be as varied as the
imagination: the best reefs for scuba, the most difficult hiking trails, the highest bungee jump, the
most varied wildflowers, the best wines, the most nightlife, and the most ecofriendly
communities. All of these different experiences attract distinct people who are looking for ways
to fulfill these passions.
Yet, as with all passions, they are subject to the ebb and flow of popularity. When place
brands are solely built off of one niche they can become incredibly vulnerable. When that activity
goes out of style, the effects can be devastating and force the need for a rebranding campaign.
The decline in popularity of particular activities is particularly significant for locations in that it
does not represent a failure on the part of the location’s brand, but a change in the niche tourism
preferences (Mitchell and Hall, 2003).
Peter Williams and Karim Dossa (2003) categorized the experiential public into two
types of persons: immersionists and generalists. These two groups express their desire for lively
activity based travel in distinct ways.
Immersionists are motivated by being able to experience scenic, environmentally clean
regions where they are able to safely interact with their local surroundings and the native
residents in a sustainable way. Often emphatic of the importance of natural environments and
persona, and inclined towards social discovery and physical activity, immersionists greatly value
the opportunity and ability to increase their knowledge of the region, its native ecosystem,
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historical significance and local culture, and become immersed in a variety of activities (Williams
and Dossa, 2003).
Generalists are also motivated by experience but are more often focused on the
opportunity to partake in good food, predeveloped interactive attractions, interpreted natural
areas, unique arts and crafts that can be interpreted as souvenirs, and urban lifestyle. For
generalists, the incorporation of festivals, concerts and events mean a diversification of activity
options to amplify and accentuate their experiential agendas (Williams and Dossa, 2003). These
are the Disney World tourists, those who require constant entertainment but little local infusion in
the activities.
What is unique to Ithaca is that there are distinctive characteristics of the local
environment, both geographical and social, that heightens the distinctions between immersionists
and generalists. Typically in Ithaca there are two categories of participants which Stephen
Kimball of Tompkins County Area Development portrays as:
“Two kinds of tourists; I call them the puretourists who are here for being a tourist in
Ithaca and there’s the connected visitors who are here because their kids are going to
Cornell or I.C. [Ithaca College]. So they wouldn’t just come here because it’s Ithaca.
They are coming here because they have some other connections, so they’re doing some
things but they would come here because it’s the Finger Lakes. They aren’t here to tour
every day,” (Kimball, 2008).
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The two groups of people that he is referring to are the residents and tourists that are affiliated
with Ithaca, its spirit and community, and the people associated with the colleges, the ones who
would come to Cornell and Ithaca College despite its location.
Typically residents and puretourists are the Ithaca enthusiasts – the immersionist
population that learns about Ithaca and all that it has to offer and explore it off the beaten track.
They interact with activities on a physical and personal level whether it is their first time or a
quotidian experience. Having a strong local immersionist group has influenced the local
infrastructure in the entirety of Tompkins County and stimulated the development and sustenance
of untouched natural areas, low maintenance “rails to trails” in which abandoned railroads have
been converted to hiking and biking trails, leavenotrace camping, intimate and engaging theatre
and lectures, meettheartist opportunities, satellite and remote attractions in small unpromoted
areas, and a plethora of off the beaten track opportunities that enable self discovery and
interaction opportunities to meet with others.
In Ithaca, typically the generalist community is primarily affiliated with the colleges; the
student body, potential students, their families, and those coming to partake in college events,
such as graduations, reunions, and freshman weekend. For these generalists, Ithaca is not the
main attractor for their residence or visit and is a peripheral bonus to their primary college
experiences. As a result, many are not looking to get indepth knowledge or interpersonal
relationships with the city, but to merely skim the surface. They want to visit the galleries and see
the art but not necessarily meet the artists. They want to buy local wine and beer but not take the
exhaustive tours of the wineries or microbreweries. They want to stroll the parks but not
31
necessarily take a rugged hike through the gorges or a trek along the Finger Lakes Trail. And the
lake offers a dinner cruise, not a handson sailing experience or a bountiful day of fishing.
The result is that Ithaca is primarily focused on the handson, immersionist community
but maintains transient generalist population. There is a heavy desire for deep understanding, and
an active component that follows through on this urge. According to Williams and Dossa (2003)
this imbalance of immersionists and generalists contradicts the norms. Usually there is a higher
proliferation of generalists. It is this unique experience based component that sets Ithaca apart.
CULTURE MARKETING
A good starting point for any location on their quest to develop their reputation is to look
at their most valuable asset: the people who live there. This resource brings to the table an
irreplaceable set of skills, aspirations and culture that is well equipped to determine a credible,
sustainable and effective plan that far outpaces any cooked up public relations tactic (Anholt,
2003). The cultural aspect is uniquely linked to the location, but furthermore, it deals with non
commercial activities. As a result, it brings a dignifying and enriching value by illustrating the
spiritual and intellectual qualities of local people and the institutions that they surround
themselves with.
Culture provides a background of distinctiveness in two ways: the particular attitudes and
spirit of the people, but also the extent to which local cultural activities are participated in, in
contrast to the passive broadcast of mainstream media. “Americans engage in a wide variety of
pastimes and chose to spend their disposable incomes in a wide variety of ways. Some of these
variations reflect the pronounced regional and local preferences,’ (Cortright, 2006, p.46), and
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Ithaca’s distinctive local blend of opportunities highlights the intrinsic characteristics of the local
culture: beautiful, smart, and at all times unexpected.
With three established theatres (and more at the colleges), lectures, museums, and
galleries, there is a strong and everpresent manifestation of the arts in the local atmosphere.
Added creativity and thoughtfulness is omnipresent thanks to the pervasiveness of the universities
that offer lectures and events throughout the year and sporting events for the general public. And
then there are always the parks; their multiplicity and breadth illustrates that the love of nature is
of utmost importance. This is also reflected in the number, size and quality of local agriculture
ventures, including a number of farmers markets, cooperative markets, and the gigantic Ithaca
Farmers’ Market.
The impact that all of these characteristics have on the local “goingons” is significant in
expressing Ithaca’s inner spirit. For most places culture and geography have a very distinctive
presence in the local identity, but Ithaca truly represents these two characteristics by combining
them in a harmonious synergy. This is then elaborated by the city’s love and adoration of
diversity and options.
Ithaca is a community of character, diverse in backgrounds and extravagant in beliefs: a
place of spiritual plethora and political variety. I have often noted that Ithaca is the only place that
I could ever see a staunch Republican farmer married to a braburning, metropolitan business
woman and see them live happily ever after, and perhaps even start their own international
organic agricultural business. This diversity and unity has motivated the city, creating a passion
and spirit that is reflected back as a true love of Ithaca itself.
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For many of these defining characteristics of the local culture, there are few, if any,
statistics and measures to look at. As Joseph Cortright (2006) mentions, “There are many
dimensions for distinctiveness, and because each community has its own special strengths and
characteristics, no single measure or set of measures can capture this adequately,” (Cortright,
20006, p.45). The only way to understand a location is to be there and be immersed in the culture
and atmosphere. The official travel guide for the area puts this in perspective with its description
of who Ithacans are:
“What makes Ithaca unique? Is it the towering waterfalls, lush, iceage gorges, endless
panoramic views? Is it the hiking, the biking, the boating? Is it the beauty of Cayuga
Lakes, the longest of the Finger Lakes? Perhaps. But perhaps it’s something more. Maybe
it’s the buzz from Cornell University and Ithaca College. You’ll feel it everywhere – in
our museums, out galleries, our many restaurants. You hear it in our theatres, our
nightclubs, out festivals. You see it downtown on our pedestrian mall, the Ithaca
Commons, where PhDs cross paths with street musicians [and sometimes are even one in
the same!], and families stroll the solar system on an interactive ‘planet walk.’ You can’t
put your finger on it, but there’s something special going on here. The bumperstickers say
‘Ithaca is Gorges,’ but it’s more than that,” (Ithaca/Tompkins County Convention and
Visitors Bureau, 2008a).
It is this phenomenon that you can’t quite put your finger on but you feel wholeheartedly that
makes Ithaca different, distinct, and desirable. And these distinctions are what shapes the future
of the city.
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In destination branding, many locations are often heavily reliant on their literal
description making one seaside beach quite indistinguishable from another and one snowcapped
mountain range simply a vantage point to see another snowcapped mountain. By using culture as
a representation of an area, the location is provided with the one significant element that is absent
in commercial brands but that locations cannot do without: dignity. As Anholt notes, “Culture is,
if you like, the rich harmonic accompaniment to the simple, accessible, easily memorable melody
of commercial competitive advantage. You can whistle a country’s commercial brand, and not its
cultural counterpoint; but the former is worth very much less without the later,” (Anholt, 2005, p.
136).
This can be seen in the Tompkins County Area Development initiatives that work to
bring businesses to Ithaca. Their campaigns emphasize the nearness of Cornell and other
academic and business benefits, but more importantly predominantly tout the strong cultural and
social aspects of the community that would benefit their employees as well as their company. In
effect, the major selling point for bringing companies to Ithaca is the people and the way that they
live their lives. Ithaca’s commerce and economy may be strong, but in the end Ithaca would be
just another provincial city without its particular flavor of people, activities and culture.
Culture provides the metaphor that weaves together the many different local facets in the
mind of both the local and distant consumer, allowing people to deduce a great deal about the
inner spirit and qualities of the location (Anholt, 2007). Anholt notes, “Culture plays an essential
role in the process of enriching a country’s [or location’s] brand image, driving the process from
initial shorthand of media communications toward a fuller and more durable understanding of the
35
country and its values,” (Anholt, 2005, p.136). Culture is the sole power that takes clichés and
morphs them into fair, believable and humanist brands that are rooted in truth and history. Culture
eloquently communicates to all publics, eliminating the element of suspicion because culture is
selfevidently not for sale (Anholt, 2007). Despite the fact that it may work more slowly, needing
more education and a deeper focus and thought process on the part of the consumer, its effects are
worthwhile, and in a way, even reflects on the city itself.
In the end, culture is the center of promoting a continued renaissance by promoting a
more inclusive and sustainable community. It “creates jobs, attracts investment and enriches the
lives of people who live and work in and visit the city,” (AliKnight and Robertson, 2006, p.6).
ITHACA’S ARTS
The expression of a location’s internal spirit can be exemplified by the community’s
participation in the arts. Jane AliKnight and Martin Robertson (2006) note,
“The arts are seen to be an integral part of any celebration of a country’s history and
culture. Traditionally, the arts were seen to incorporate works and activities such as
classical music, opera, theatre, ballet, painting (fine art) and sculpture (Hughes, 2000).
However, the arts today include a wider collection of activities such as contemporary
dance, film, popular music and various components of visual arts. Indeed, the programme
of any international arts festival reflects the diversity of contemporary arts and its
audience base,” (AliKnight and Robertson, 2006, p.4).
With a verve for the expression of diversity, the local artistic flare within Ithaca and Tompkins
County has positioned the area as a mecca for locally grown and internationally known visual and
36
performing artists. Actors, musicians, painters, dancers, metalworkers, sculptors, woodworkers,
and handicraftmakers find Ithaca and use the local effervescence to express a deep and
gratifyingly varied plethora of artistic pleasures, products and personalities.
Most locations amplify their primary artistic passion through a single channel of
creativity: New Orleans screams the blues; Chicago has jazz; Los Angeles dotes on movies and
mainstream pop; New York has its Broadway performances and onstage entertainment; San
Francisco boasts its minimalist sculptor Richard Serra and other offbeat visual artists. Ithaca, on
the other hand, reflects its need for choice and love of alternatives in all of its artistic selection.
Ithaca is home to a number of distinctly impressive arts. The music community literally
comprises the entire Ithaca community in general everyone is a musician in Ithaca, but not
simply a musician but a worldclass artist who travels and performs on a regular basis. The
Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University is a work of architectural art in itself
designed by the renowned I.M. Pei but also home to pieces by the masters and iconoclasts. At one
point the home to E.B. White and Emin L. Nabakoff, who supposedly wrote his infamous Lolita
while residing in one of Ithaca’s downtown apartments, Ithaca is still home to a strong group of
playwrights, fiction writers and poets (Bossard, 2008). And even stronger is the local theatrical
community that makes up the heart of the local arts society.
Performance arts is engrained into the local calendar if not just in the hearts and minds of
the residents. With semester end performances at both of the colleges, the annual Christmas
Nutcracker Ballet put on by the local Ithaca Ballet, and the summer season Hanger Theatre
performances, there is a cyclic devotion to the local stage. The city has nine community theatre
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groups, three colleges with their own theatre and music groups, and several dance organizations
(Pratt and Haine, 2007). The three main theatres are the Kitchen Theatre, Hanger Theatre and
State Theatre.
The Kitchen Theatre, well known as simply ‘the Kitchen,’ is the brainchild of Rachel
Lampert, a well published playwright and highly experienced actress. A small and intimate
performance space, with only 73 seats, the kitchen incubates a large number of fresh theatrical
performances, regional premiers and contemporary ‘classics,’ (Tompkins County Chamber of
Commerce, 2008). The true value of the Kitchen is that it is a huge resource for up and coming
playwrights to premier their works. Rachel Lampert herself is always cooking up, directing and
even performing a number of new originals – but the stage also provides the opportunity for
others to get out there and see their works come to life. Adam Bock is one of these new
playwrights who has premiered his shows in Ithaca at ‘the Kitchen,’ such as A Drunken City, and
had some success in New York City. “He’s growing a name,” said Bossard, “and a lot of it has to
do with his work at the Kitchen Theatre,” (Bossard, 2008).
The Hanger Theatre is an old airplane hanger next to Cayuga Lake. Only operated for
performances during the summer months, the Hanger is “the summer stock” of Ithaca (Bossard,
2008). It brings together local and outside performers to offer modern and innovative
performances as well as the traditional and flawless classics. These shows include musicals,
dramas, comedies, and solo acts. While their performances are in the summer, the Hanger
operates as a yearround theater company doing a lot of work in the schools to foster appreciation
of performing arts. In this vein, they also offer childcentered afternoon productions in the
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summer to encourage involvement in child theatre and a summer camp to hone the passions of the
next generation of local performers (Bossard, 2008).
The major venue for music in Ithaca is new newly revived historic, 1,600seat vaudeville
theatre. The State Theatre, built in 1915 and transformed into a Moorish and Renaissance Revival
performance space that incorporated the collegiate Gothic symbolism of Cornell in 1928, has
flourished as the premier entertainment venue for a variety of genres since its inception –
exhibiting burlesque, movies, plays, Broadway tours, dance performances, and music concerts in
a series of rebirths (Historic Ithaca and the State Theatre, 2008).
Now operated by Historic Ithaca, the theater is host to some of the most eclectic and
significant music artists in the area (Historic Ithaca and the State Theatre, 2008). Recent acts
alone have included: the roots and blues legend, Taj Mahal; the Vienna Boys Choir formed in
1498 by Emperor Maximillian; the Glenn Miller Orchestra with its big band jazz and swing; the
son of African Legend Ali Farka Toure, the renouned Vieux Farka Toure; South African cultural
emissaries Ladysmith Black Mambazo; the Parisbased, Beninborn funk, salsa, jazz, rumba and
makossa queen, Angelique Kidjo; the angelvoiced Tibetian Yungchen Lhamo; Lyle Lovett; and
Los Lobos. The State Theatre has become such a center of Ithacan life that it even plays host to a
number of cultural and influential events. These events include community lectures and readings,
but also such magnificent events as the hosting of the Dali Lama (Historic Ithaca and the State
Theatre, 2008).
In the music arena, Ithaca is known to be “one of the most varied music scenes outside of
the Big Apple,” (Pratt and Haine, 2007, p.5). Every night in Ithaca is a whirlwind of different
39
styles. The city is host to both local and international groups playing classical, jazz, blues, folk,
heavymetal, punk, rap, rhythm and blues, reggae, funk, emo, country, bluegrass, rock and roll,
swing, and even the sounds of what has been called ‘neoprimitive bug music’ (Pratt and Haine,
2007).
According to Brett Bossard, executive director of the Community Arts Partnership,
“Musically we have an amazingly diverse group of performers – everything from old time music
to jazz to some really significant hard rock and modern rock, and even some pop and a cappella
groups. It’s a broad spectrum” (Bossard, 2008). He dubs this aura the “Ithaca Mystique,” the
eclectic combination of artists, audience members and music supporters that motivates musicians
and enables the vivacity that typifies the local music scene.
The variety extends beyond the genre distinctions to the venues themselves, offering even
more choice and options to the clientele. Country bars, local pubs, chic lounges, colleges,
theatres, wineries, small cafés, state parks and open air pavilions offer a home for bands, quartets,
ensembles, a cappella groups, and solo acts to perform.
While the plethora of hotspots in Ithaca play host to groups passing through or
internationally renowned headliner acts, local groups are traveling across the glove, sharing their
homegrown Ithaca flare with worldwide audiences. “It’s definitely a community that stretches,”
said Bossard (2008) about the Ithaca arts community. “There’s an understanding that while Ithaca
is the hub, the branches go pretty far out,” (Bossard, 2008).
But it isn’t simply the fact that there is this diversity and ‘mood’ that makes Ithaca’s
music scene distinctive. The fact is, that musicians are motivated – they are working on a
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business level playing in the venues and earning livings off of their music, but they are also
working on a grassroots simply to share their talents and enthusiasm. On Sunday, September 23,
2007 the Fall Creek neighborhood on Ithaca’s east side hosted what they have dubbed Porchfest –
a collaborative effort in which all of the local musicians living in Fall Creek area played music on
their front porches. More than 18 bands and artists participated, displaying their talents in the
open air showcase. As Bossard noted, “People literally were encouraged to take lawn chairs and
walk around the Fall Creek neighborhood and check out these people that were playing on their
porches. So, it was free concerts throughout the neighborhood and people came from all over
town to take part,” (Bossard, 2008). The result is that the audience was the key purpose of the
entire production. To emphasize the fact, the festival even arranged an afterperformance party in
Auburn Street “Triangle” Park and were encouraged to bring their own instruments for a
community wide jam session, bringing it down to the community and interpersonal level.
This communityoriented perspective is key to the way Ithaca interacts with artistic
creativity, and it extends beyond music into the other artistic forms. According to Bossard,
“We’re seeing more community arts now. Well certainly there’s visual artists all over
Ithaca and a variety that blends the distinction between folk art and fine art. There are
certainly dozens if not hundreds of folk artists – people who see artistry in the everyday –
that live in Ithaca. You see that in the way they live their lives and the way that they
present what they consider to be their art form; whether its for sale or just on people’s
houses. You see some really artful displays of creativity just around the homes of Ithaca,”
(Bossard, 2008).
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Ithaca has a unique emphasis on interaction with art that typifies its immersionist mentality.
People like to go out and experience art (whether it be music, visual arts or theatre) and make a
memory of the experience through facetoface encounters with artists who are in fact as original
as their works and performances.
This intimate interaction is highly encouraged through the Greater Ithaca Arts Trail, an
alliance of local artists who invite the public into their studios, homes and galleries to watch them
at work. The experience gives the artists a window of opportunity to display their fantastic
watercolors, intricate woodwork pieces, earthy works of pottery, creative multimedia, godly
stainedglass, distinctive oil paintings, beautiful quilts, thoughtful social documentary
photographs, hearty ironwork, and ethereal glassblowing. The experience is a one of a kind
opportunity to get straight to the heart of what art really is: “When you buy an original piece of
art, you’re not just buying art. You’re buying the artist too. And Art makes your life better – it
really does. It’s not just a cliché,” (Bossard, 2008).
If this isn’t intimate enough, the theater community steps it up a notch and brings
performances straight into the audience’s local living rooms. Bossard (2008) told of local
playwright who two years ago, got together a local group of actors and developed an original play
that was solely to be performed in people’s living rooms. “So they traveled it around. Friends and
friends of friends would offer up their homes and they would do the shows in the house. It was
designed to be done in a small place, so they would invite friends over, and friends of friends, and
they just connected using social networks,” (Bossard, 2008). The result was a modern version of
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the old French salon performances in which men and woman would gather to participate in
formal and informal drawing room entertainment.
Part of the reason that this is successful is that Ithaca is able to see arts as integral to life,
and not just a high culture. “One thing that Ithaca and the Ithaca arts community seems to
understand in a way that some communities don’t is that art doesn’t need to be a separate
category. Everything that we do can be expressed more fully by using art. Everything doesn’t
necessarily have to be just what you’d typically think. It can be presented in an artistic
way,” (Bossard, 2008). For instance, Ithaca had a Puppetry Pageant for Peace to demonstrate the
constitutionally established right for freedom of assembly. The local green community developed
ties with the arts community to create a sustainable art program that has recently put a show on at
the public library where the sculptures and artwork was entirely made through the creative reuse
of salvaged materials (Bossard, 2008).
This type of exhaustive participation in the arts on the parts of the community shows its
waywardness when it comes to what I call the ‘cookie cutter arts.’ As popular culture makes
recorded, boxed, processed and replications of art more readily available, the originals works are
now forced to confront pop and corporate culture directly as competitors. Ithaca veers away from
this trend.
Any example of this deference is the fact that Ithaca does not house any mainstream
nightclub that routinely emphasizes disc jockeys. According to Bossard, “Nightlife is the arts in
Ithaca. Whether its live music or performance. It’s not for lack of trying [that there is not a
nightclub] – there have been attempts to put nightclubtype venues in Ithaca and that didn’t work.
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There’s something about the community that rejects that for some reason,” (Bossard, 2008). Real,
present and genuine artists are preferred over the packaged arts and local and eclectic versions are
always dominant over the pop versions.
GREEN LIVING
Ithaca possesses a particular drive to learn, understand, and develop sustainable practices
that improve the environment and the local community. This lifestyle has been adopted
nationwide as a part of the Green Revolution, but has a particular vibrancy and vitality in the
Ithaca community.
As Jacquelyn Ottman (1998) notes, the major push that is coming from this ecofriendly
consciousness that propels the Green Revolution is the fact that “individuals are acting upon their
values through the power of their purchasing decisions,” (Ottman, 1998, p.8). These decisions are
revolutionizing the way people interact with the products, services and world around them and
evoke a newfound consciousness about personal accountability.
It is often assumed that much of this ecoconsciousness is the result of altruistic notions.
The motivations are multiple and varied. As Ottman (1998) notes, “refills save money, pollution
controls protect property, natural cottons say ‘I’m fashionable,’” (Ottman, 1998, p.128). But all of
these benefits that consumers face help them face a worlds that they are increasingly seeing as
risky. B y buying natural cleaning products and organic, pesticidefree foods, green consumers
are attempting to have an effect on their surroundings and in the process are shaping a new trend
known as environmental consumerism (Ottman, 1998).
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The Green Revolution began in the 1970s when environmental concerns, energy crises,
and water and air pollution issues rose to the surface. Legislative initiatives were enacted to
correct the problem, reducing the concern through the 1980s. However, the numerous
environmental disasters and events in the late 1980s, in conjunction with rising concerns about
global warming and the high cost of fuel have again propelled environmentalism to the spotlight
(Ottman, 1998).
Started by the Baby Boomer generation, it is not surprising that it is again the Boomer
population that is reincarnating environmentalism. This time, however, the Boomers have reached
maturity and are motivated by their desire to preserve the quality of life and the natural
environment for their children. By bringing their social values with them into adulthood, the
Boomers are able to use their sheer numbers, numbering 77 million, to usher a permanent shift
towards ecofriendly products and companies (Ottman, 1998).
But it is not just their sheer numbers that give them such enormous buying power. The
Boomers born between 1956 and 1964 have always made their ark on society at every point of
their journey to maturity. The social upheaval and antiwar movement, the music of the 1960s
and 1970s, and their current tastes in fashion, fitness and retirement have always shown how the
Boomers have great power in shaping pop culture. Environmentalism is merely their latest
indelible mark on society and they are wielding all of their sophisticated, educated, and upscale
prowess to change the marketplace (Ottman, 1998).
In fact, environmentalism is a direct result of the heady and education complexity that
characterizes the Baby Boomer generation. They are the most educated generation yet and have
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been privileged to more information than any previous generation. Furthermore, they know how
to use their knowledge collectively to get what they want. Ottman states that, “They consider
themselves logical and rational, and are attracted to high quality and substance; they shun glitter
and glitz,” (Ottman, 1998, p.20). The result is a holistic wellness philosophy that emphasizes the
overall quality of life – of humans and the environment that they live in.
This holistic approach has seen many rebirths. “A big difference between today’s
environmentally aware consumers and their 1970s counterparts is that the latter focused on hard
line, low consumption approaches to environmentalism while the former favors technology
driven solutions that allow them to maintain their lifestyles. The clarion call has changed from
‘no development’ to ‘sustainable development,’” (Ottman, 1998, p.41). Furthermore, the boomer
kids are now getting involved, and their enthusiasm may indeed exceed that of their parents. “As
yuppie families began to have children, their food choices were informed by all the same
influences that had been swirling around the baby boom generation,” (Winne, 2008, p.127). This
change has had a tremendous impact on Ithaca’s development and evolution into a green
community.
The ability to provide a choice in the level of involvement is the essence of Ithaca’s
greenness; whether that means simply remembering to put out recyclables on collection day or
living in Ithaca’s EcoVillage, a set of two 30home cohousing neighborhoods that are a part of a
global sustainable human culture initiative that grows and sells organic vegetables and berries. In
fact, it is important to remember that green consumers may not be activists but anyone who
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actively seeks out products, services, or actions that are perceived as having a minimal effect on
the environment.
Ottman (1998) defines five levels of green participation and involvement. The most
active group is the TrueBlue Greens who hold strong proenvironmental beliefs and live them
out in their quotidian life. According to Ottman, they are “almost three times more likely than
other consumers to avoid buying products from a company with a questionable environmental
reputation, and twice as likely to buy greener types of products… They believe they can
personally make a difference in solving environmental problems,” (Ottman, 1998, p.3031) – and
they do.
Typically older, wealthy, married with children, the TrueBlue Greens are predominantly
women. The fact that these women are at the forefront of these green decisions is incredibly
important and cannot be underestimated. As the primary shoppers they are influential in all
purchasing decisions for the rest of society and the next generation. They are the most desirable
consumer target – mainstream, educated and affluent (Ottman, 1998).
The second group of green consumers are the people who support environmentalism
through money instead of time or action: the Greenback Greens. Willing to spend up to 15%
more for green products, the Greenback Greens are unwilling to sacrifice their lifestyle. Ottman
states that, “They feel too busy to change their lifestyles but they are happy and able to express
their beliefs with their pocketbooks and wallets,” (Ottman, 1998, p.3132).
The Sprouts consist of roughly a third of the U.S public. They want the pro
environmental legislation but feel that they are unable to personally make a positive
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environmental impact through their purchases. They regularly engage in proenvironmental
activities such as recycling, bottle return, energy conservation and pollution avoidance, but they
are unwilling or unable to pay the much higher prices for the green products. The Sprouts are the
true reflection of middle America and represent the United State’s national norms in terms of sex,
age, and urban/rural splits, but often lean towards the more welleducated or affluent sectors
(Ottman, 1998).
Grousers represent a force that is 17 million strong in the United States. They take few
environmental actions. But at the same time, the Grousers do not believe that other people are
doing their part in the environmental struggle either. Often reliant on the government to fix
environmental products, they refuse to spend more money on green products that they perceive as
being less effective than their nongreen counterparts. Below average in terns of education and
income, they are confused, illinformed and unable to act (Ottman, 1998).
Lastly are the Basic Browns, the largest group of consumers in the United States. With 64
million people (35% of the American public) they are by far the least involved in environmental
issues. They are half as likely to recycle bottles and cans and do not participate in any
conservation activities. Disproportionately male and Southern, the Basic Brown attitude is
generally a reflection of the bluecollar and economically downscale lifestyle and it’s values –
there just is not that much that one can do to make a difference or a change (Ottman, 1998, p.
127).
As Bill Huttunen of Finger Lakes Farms wrote of the Ithaca area, “‘Live green’ is the
mantra,” (Huttunen, 2008, p.6B).Ithaca is has a high level of environmentally conscious residents.
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With a large concentration of TrueBlue Greens that are striving to bring Ithaca far beyond its
current position in the quest for green consumerism and environmental protection, the policies
and programs are far exceeding the expected economic limitations of such a small provincial city.
The rest of the population of the county, though perhaps not at the level of the TrueBlue Greens,
is dominated by Sprouts – they take actions and are knowledgeable about green purchasing
options but are slightly offput by the high prices that often correspond to the greener products.
With a limited Grouser and Basic Brown population in the area, the level of consciousness is
highly evolved and coherent.
However, at the same time there is a relatively small number of the Greenback Greens as
well. Part of this is Ithaca’s avoidance of the general corporate consumerism that accompanies the
lifestyle of the fast, busy, businessmen and businesswomen that make up the population. The
other part is that Ithaca itself is an activist community that believes in functional and operational
change in a direct and tangible way. This commitment that goes beyond the consumption of green
products has been one of the ways that Ithaca has avoided the overall trend of superficial green
washing in which corporations try to make their products appear more green than they may
actually be in order to boost their image of corporate social responsibility. A very appealing
choice for the Greenback Greens, the TrueBlue Greens see past the ploy. It is important that
“consumer’s concerns cannot be exploited through superficial product improvements and/or
communications,” (Ottman, 1998, p.58) – it isn’t enough to talk green in Ithaca, companies and
initiatives need to actually be green.
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Ithaca benefits from all levels of commitment by offering a multitude of choices for the
green consumer. Ithaca is a diverse community with a platform of opportunities for green
awareness. Kat McCarthy, recycling specialist at Tompkins County Solid Waste, “The Ithaca area
offers many unique opportunities to live and enjoy the green culture,” (McCarthy, 2008). The
availability of involvement levels in incredibly high in Tompkins County with sophisticated and
high involvement recycling programs, community supported agriculture initiatives, university and
research outreach, green purchasing opportunities, programs that reuse building and household
good within the local market, sustainable art initiatives and initial green purchasing education and
outlets. The options allow all green consumers to participate at their own level of involvement
beyond what they can simply do in their homes: replacing old light bulbs with efficient Energy
Star compact fluorescent bulbs, installing programmable thermostats, and taking shorter showers.
The county government is at the forefront of the green initiatives. Tompkins County
Solid Waste Department evolved out of the old landfill system when the landfill closed in 1990
due to environmental problems. According to Barbara Eckstrom (2008), the first and only county
solid waste manager since that point, the county developed a 20year comprehensive plan that
moved the solid waste practices away from disposal toward programs that emphasize recycling,
reuse, composting and education about waste reduction alternatives.
According to Eckstrom, this plan has flourished since its inception and is considered one
of the most victorious achievements in the local green community.
“After 18 years, our community has successfully reduced the amount of garbage thrown
away by almost 60%. Tompkins County now has one of the highest recycling rates in
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New York State and the country. This is due to the early policy decisions by the
Tompkins County Legislature to build the Recycling Center and implement a countywide
recycling collection program that out competes those in metropolitan, urban areas with a
history highly developed disposal infrastructure. Our provincial area rivals the most
successful urban operations,” (Eckstrom, 2008).
Many of these strides were made in the development of a secure funding system, including the
disposal fee where residents pay for each bag of trash that is picked up by garbage haulers and
brought to the disposal site. The secure funding from the county for these programs has insured
the development of alternative programs ranging from the local reuse center and a highly
developed system of partnerships with local green nonprofits and businesses (Eckstrom, 2008).
The latest of the Tompkins County Solid Waste Department initiatives is their green
purchasing program, otherwise known as rebuying, in which they are encouraging the
purchasing of new products that incorporate reused and recycled materials into their production.
This rebuy initiative has worked to develop a website, Finger Lakes Buy Green, where people
can search for recycled and safe products and get local information about where they can buy
these products. These products range from the best ecofriendly, recycled cleaning products, yard
maintenance, and garden materials to office supplies (McCarthy, 2008).
In conjunction with the rebuy program is the green purchasing consortium that has
formed in the last year. The consortium includes Tompkins County government, Cornell
University, Ithaca College, the City of Ithaca, the Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce,
Tompkins Seneca Tioga BOCES, and Tompkins Cortland Community College. The group shares
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resources and works to increase the purchasing power and bring down the prices of green
products by buying in large quantities and sharing (McCarthy, 2008). After all, currently the
products are can be really expensive compared to new, or virgin, products..
On the community level there are a number of programs that help push the local residents
and businesses towards environmentally holistic solutions. Sustainable Tompkins is the umbrella
group that is supporting the local green initiatives through forums and websites. The members of
Sustainable Tompkins are those are involved in the green sector in Ithaca and work to motivate
others to become ecofriendly. Examples of their initiatives include the sustainable happy hour
that Kat McCarthy developed to, as she said, “Provide an informal face to face networking
opportunity for people in Ithaca to talk about sustainability initiatives,” (McCarthy, 2008).
Another aspect of Sustainable Tompkins is the Think Do Tank, a guerilla style grassroots
organization that develops and communicates ideas that can push the Tompkins County
community to the next level in community betterment (McCarthy, 2008).
Cayuga Compost is another local initiative that is working to provide food waste
collection and composting services to restaurants and schools, as well as any other business that
may have food waste that needs to be disposed and handled. The processing cost is shared by the
businesses and the county through Tompkins County Solid Waste subsidies, enabling businesses
an easy and inexpensive disposal outlet. The company is then able to compost the food
byproducts selling the finished product to local landscapers and vineyards for their use.
Another green community based organization is the Ithaca Car Share. The program
works in a similar manner to national companies such as Zipcar or Flexcar – companies that do
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not come to a provincial city as small as Ithaca, despite the large number of students that live
there. The program enables people to share cars among groups of neighbors so that everyone does
not need to own their own car (McCarthy, 2008). In effect, it encourages reduced gas
consumption, but also enables local pockets of interested people to use more expensive, eco
friendly cars, such as hybrids when they would not be able to afford one of their own.
Ithaca also has its own alternative to the typical car purchase: Ithaca Biodiesel. An
employee owned a democratically run cooperative corporation, Ithaca Biodiesel works to provide
high quality vegetable based fuels. They work to convert cars to biofuels and also sell biofuels
to the public. The biodiesels that they sell are made through a chemical reaction known as
transesterification that changes the viscosity of vegetable oil, making it more similar to petroleum
diesel. Biodiesel burns cleaner (making it environmentally friendly), is made from recycled waste
from local restaurants (making it sustainable). They also offer a series of presentations in which
Meghan Murphy, editor of Biodiesel American, and Mark Wienand, owner of Liquid Solar, a
dieselstraight vegetable oil conversion company, present to all types of groups, elementary to
adult (Ithaca Biodiesel, 2008).
Reuse is also a noteworthy part of the Ithaca green circle. Significant Elements is a non
profit architectural salvage warehouse run by Historic Ithaca that reuses building materials by
salvaging architectural items. Their website shows that they resell almost everything: reclaimed
solid wood doors, lighting, windows, clawfoot tubs, furniture, bath & kitchen sinks, wood
moldings, flooring, wainscoting, columns, slate & ceramic tile, toilets, shutters, cabinetry, ornate
hardware, and various other salvaged odds and ends. Working in partnership with the Tompkins
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County Solid Waste Department they are able to “reuse the past to build your future,” (Historic
Ithaca and Significant Elements, 2008).
The sheer number of unique, locally created and community focused programs and
initiatives in the Tompkins County area is a testament to the TrueBlue Greens. The actions that
this highly motivated sector of the population are taking bodes well fore the future
conservationism in Ithaca. As Ottman points out,
“A close look at the most active segment, the True Blues, demonstrates the relative depth
of their commitment. Given their societal influence, this suggests the types of behavior
that can be expected from a much bigger group of consumers in the future… As social
and style leaders, their forceful presence can be expected to exert increasing peer
pressure, particularly on the Greenback Greens and the Sprouts,” (Ottman, 1998, p.33).
The future looks good for green in Ithaca, especially since many of the programs in Ithaca do
exactly what Ottman recommends: motivates TrueBlue Greens by demonstrating how to make
contributions and rewarding their initiative, leadership and commitment; showing Greenback
Greens that environmental benefits are consistent with their busy lifestyles and add value to
products; encouraging Sprouts by using appeal to peer pressure, status, and simply showing that
going green is doing the right thing for the environment on a moral level; providing Grousers
with easy and costeffective ways to make contributions; and educating Basic Browns on how
individuals can make a difference by illustrating that a multiplicity of small actions add up to big
changes (Ottman, 1998).
FOOD IDENTITY
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Food constitutes a core component of any culture and it is key to defining a location and
people’s experience with it. The food industry is the fourth most important factor to the
satisfaction that people have when in a location and the fourth most identified attribute to
affecting the place’s attractiveness – after climate, accommodations and scenery (Hashimoto and
Telfer, 2003). Whether it is the food that you bought at the store to cook at home; the food
prepared at a local restaurant; food in the background of a tourism experience as the meal
advertised in a resort brochure; food in the foreground of daily entertainment, such as the special
interest cuisines, wine tourism, cooking schools and renowned chefs and restaurants no matter
what kind of role food plays, food is important (Hall, 2003). And in Ithaca local, organic, farmer
grown food is central.
Food is more than just eating – food represents identity, culture, production and
consumption trends and, increasingly, issues of sustainability,” (Hashimoto and Telfer, 2003).
For any location, food can become an icon (Hashimoto and Telfer, 2003), and it is an icon that
enables people to literally consume the destination (Weaver and Lawton, 2006). Atsuko
Hashimoto and David J. Telfer (2003) explains, “By eating local food, by sharing it with local
inhabitants, by adapting to different eating manners, the tourist [and I add that even the local] is
not only a spectator but he/she also becomes an actor of that culture and can achieve greater
communication with local inhabitants than he would otherwise,” (Hashimoto and Telfer, 2003, p.
82). The result is that food can be a common cultural unifying trait for those already participating
in the culture, but can also be an easily accessible channel for others to join and immerse
themselves in that culture.
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While food is primarily important to the local inhabitants, food tourism is an incredibly
important part of creating sustainability and cultural sharing for communities. Hashimoto and
Telfer (2003) illustrate that food encompasses every possible color of the tourism motivational
palette:
“to achieve relaxation (relaxing in a restaurant or at the terrace of a café), excitement
(trying new food, new ways of eating), escapism (changing from the usual food/everyday
life), status (trying some expensive or different food) , education (increasing one’s
knowledge about different types of food and wine and how to cook them), lifestyle (the
simple fact to be outside in nice weather and enjoying nice wine and food),” (Hashimoto
and Telfer, 2003, p.82).
Because of the attractiveness and value that food offers to tourists, there is an irreplaceable value
in its ability to communicate a location’s attributes to others. This tourist value is also amplified
by the local benefits that food offers to the development and sustainability of a location and its
own population. Food directly and indirectly contributes to the stimulation and support of
agricultural activity and food production, discourages authentic exploitation, enhances destination
attractiveness, the development of pride and community empowerment and a reinforcement of the
destination’s brand identity (du Rand, Heath and Alberts, 2003, p.100).
Ithaca is a city of progressive campaigners and their food is a direct reflection of their
activism – and their organic and healthy eating cuisine has been noticed nationwide. VegNews
magazine ranked Ithaca among their “12 Hippest Hometowns for Vegetarians” in 2006. Ithaca
was the “best health city in the Northeast” in 2003 according to Organic Style Magazine. And the
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Ithaca Farmers’ Market was named one of the “60 Best American Public Places” by the Utne
Reader in 2002. Ithaca’s food mentality has been well represented by these notices – Ithaca has a
strong agricultural community with an emphasis on local, farmeroriented production and sale of
healthy and organic products. And the best place to see this in action is the local farmers’ market.
Farmers’ markets started to appear across America in the mid1970s in an effort to
rediscover farmers, as well as the taste, price, and value of locally produced foods. According to
Mark Winne (2008), “The idea was simple: connect local farmers and urban consumers,
especially lowerincome families, for both groups’ mutual benefit. This could be done by
developing highreturn retail outlets for small and mediumsize farmers, while providing more
highquality outlets for producestarved urban consumers,” (Winne, 2008, p.38). The result is
obviously beneficial for both parties – the farmers make more money selling at farmers’ markets
than acting as pricetakers in the wholesale system and those who are unable to grow their own
food are able to get provisions that they know are fresh, healthy, and have a short travel time from
soil to table. Thirty years later, there are more than 4,000 farmers’ markets of varying sizes with a
USDA estimate of between 30,000 and 50,000 farmer participants (Winne, 2008).
The success or failure of a particular market is heavily predicated by the quality of the
location and its nearness to the people that it serves – both farmers and customers. If it works for
the farmers they will come to sell. If people are given a large selection of farmers and different
types of produce they will come to buy on a regular basis. “Ultimately, if the farmers made
money, they would come. No money, no farmers. No farmers, no market,” (Winne, 2008, p.41).
What has made Ithaca’s market so successful is that it is located directly off the main traffic
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artery through the City of Ithaca, Route 13. Located in a permanent home on the waterfront of
Cayuga Lake, the large covered pavilion snakes along the border of the inlet shaded by the robust
willows along the water’s edge.
With a picnic area, docking area and extensive parking, the area has become a public
haunt where people can congregate, mingle, and interact. The result is the epitome of a successful
location, one that “people find profoundly soothing, even grounding in contrast to the hurlyburly
atmosphere of gargantuan shopping malls and the inhuman scale of bigbox stores,” (Winne,
2008, p.46).
As Jean McPheeters of the Chamber of Commerce aptly notes: “the Ithaca Farmers’
Market gives you a sense of how people actually live here,” (McPheeters, 2008). The outdoor
market is a wellknown landmark in the community and has recently been implemented a ‘zero
waste’ policy that recruits volunteers to ensure that all food waste is composted and all the plates,
cups, and utensils are made from compostable sugar or corn products (McCarthy, 2008). The
market features over 150 vendors that sell everything local: the fresh and locally grown produce
and plants, as well as the locally made specialty baked goods, meats, cheeses, wines, condiments,
and readytoeat cuisine. The market also sells an assortment of handicrafts, art, clothing,
furniture and miscellaneous items. All of the market items are made and grown within a 30mile
radius of Ithaca (Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce, 2008).
Yet the Ithaca Farmers Market is not the only outlet for Ithacaarea farmers. In Tompkins
County there are four farmers’ markets: the Groton Farmers’ Market, Trumansburg Farmers’
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Market, Danby Farmers’ Market and the main market in Ithaca. There are also nine farm markets
that sell local produce in a grocery setting and work as a local liaison.
There are roughly 550 full and parttime farmers in Tompkins County. Together they
own over onethird of the countryside and rent even more as a part of their operations. Their
products are vast and varied. Everything from the assortment of fruit, vegetables and flowers to
the beef, pork, lamb, and goat to the cheese, maple syrup and honey is produced, raised and
processed in a sustainable and productive manner. A wide variety of the output of these farmers is
also organic. In unison, the local farmers contribute over $18 million to the local economy
(Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce, 2008).
Cornell University, as a landgrant college, has played an influential role in supporting
the local farmers and the agricultural economy. Cornell has a real emphasis on agriculture and
green manufacturing and has put many resources in the research and development of innovations
that boost the agricultural sustainability. Cornell has developed everything from new breeds of
grapes, winter wheat and strawberries to less intrusive or more beneficial methods of crop
productivity. The animal genetics findings have been revolutionary in stopping the spread of
disease to improving embryo survival (Cornell University, 2008a).
In addition to these research initiatives and discoveries, Cornell also offers tangible
support to the local agricultural community through Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE). CCE
works in cooperation with many of the businesses, agencies, and organizations in the area to
develop and support the local agricultural economy and enable people to improve their own lives
and community through partnerships that put experience and knowledge to work. Their work is
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based on 10 different initiatives: house and home, community, yard and garden, farm and
agribusiness, food, finances, youth, family, environment and volunteering. By hosting workshops
and seminars for farmers and rural landowners, CCE works to help improve the current
operations and help to develop and expand the opportunity for new enterprises in the future. They
are also working to boost farm profitability by helping farms look for innovative, practical ways
to sell products, particularly direct marketing to customers. Assistance is offered to new and
veteran farmers to help with business planning and marketing, grant writing, linking to new
customers, and agrotourism. They also coordinate educational events for the nonfarming public
in order to encourage extended knowledge of farming, agriculture, and horticulture so that it may
be more accessible and supported by the surrounding community (Tompkins County Chamber of
Commerce, 2008).
A very strong component of the CCE program is their spearheading of the “Buy Local”
campaign to sustain local agriculture and build a stronger local food system in Tompkins and
surrounding counties. The efforts of the campaign work to foster the environmental, economic
and social vitality of the community by increasing the connections between consumers and
farmers through outreach, marketing, and special initiatives to raise individual and institutional
awareness (Cornell, 2008b).
Many of these local farms are active participants in the local community supported
agriculture (CSA) system. CSAs are a relatively new system of farming, appearing in the United
States in the late 1980s, that has literally brought the community back into the world of organic
farming. Typically CSAs are associated with the development of organic or sustainable
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agriculture because most members are profoundly interested in the ability of farmers to maintain
their quality of their agricultural land and resources and provide healthy, superior produce. Most
CSAs are certified organic or have guaranteed their members that they will only use organic
methods (Winne, 2008).
In brief, CSAs work so that people buy into a farmer’s harvest well in advance of the first
harvest. The money is given to the farmer up front, guaranteeing the member a subscription or
share of the season’s projected harvest throughout the harvest season. The advantage of this
approach is that the farmers are paid up front, ensuring that they will have the capital that is
required for a successful harvest. Further, the customers literally share in the risks of farming –
the bad weather, pests, low market prices and other issues that arise as a natural result of farming.
However, it is not only the farmer the profits, the customers are also privy to receive ample
awards for their investment during good years because their share of the profits will result in
more produce (Winne, 2008; McCarthy, 2008).
Another benefit for the consumers is that their involvement greatly expands their
awareness of how food is produced, a set of knowledge that is quickly declining throughout most
of the modern world. Winne energetically illustrates this decline in rustic knowledge:
“Being hardy and selfreliant people we think we are, we harbor the belief that when all
else fails, we can always return to the soil for our sustenance. Should the oil run out, the
trucks and trains stop running, the farflung network crumble into dust, the land and our
instinctive ability to coax food from it will save us. At least this is the folklore we fall
back on, a wisdom passed from our pioneering ancestors, whose skill, knowledge, and
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work ethic we would have to channel in order to truly live off the land. Having witnessed
many sincere but ultimately failed attempts to transform dirt, water, and see into food, I
tend to look somewhat askance at those who suggest that more of us, if not all of us, and
especially the poor, should ‘grow their own,’” (Winne, 2008, p.55).
The notion of CSAs brings the producer and consumer closer together, making it clear that the
food and farm are associated with a particular place and not just the amorphous global food
system and its series of nameless, faceless and placeless people and places.
It is estimated that more than 2,000 CSAs operate across the United States and Canada.
Especially when in connection to the growth of farmers’ markets, these CSAs elevate the primacy
of food and reemphasize the fact that local food is undeniably appealing. But it is more than that,
CSAs and farmers’ markets are an irrefutable lifestyle choice.
“Food, of course, tells many tales about people – their cultures, traditions, lifestyle
preferences, homelands, and personal health, to name a few. Like the clothes we wear
and the cars we drive, food is an expression of who we are and what we value. For the
Volvoowning CSA members […] their food, like their cars, is a deliberate and well
considered choice. They belong to a CSA because they believe it will enhance the health
and safety of their families, protect the environment, and support local
agriculture,” (Winne, 2008, p.140).
The CSAs and farmers’ markets become a primary identifier and the membership and
participation is an illustration of the local emphasis – farmers, organic, immersion, and pride.
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However, farming interaction does not simply rely on farmer harvested products. In
addition to these marketplaces there are nine additional upick farms where you can pick
strawberries, apples, raspberries, peaches, pears, melons, pumpkins, tomatoes, asparagus and
other assorted vegetables on your own. There are also two local agritourism farms: the Indian
Chimney Alpaca Farm that is home to a number of alpacas and other animals and The Turtle
Village Project that features organic gardens and small farm animals.
These interactive farms enable people to come into contact with farms and have tangible
experiences that create sensual memories. Ann Elizabeth Sharples (2003) notes that there is
nothing as strong as a consumers primary interaction and farms such as these are “making the
point by allowing visitors to walk through their orchards and ‘touch’ the apples in order to
promote the closeness between raw materials on the trees and the finished product on the
shelves,” (Sharples, 2003, p.51).
Yet, in Ithaca, food goes far beyond the farms and mingles with the urban culture. Ithaca
is home to more restaurants per capita than New York City (Ithaca/Tompkins County Convention
and Visitors Bureau, 2008b). Six of these restaurants are classified as natural, vegetarian or
organic cuisine. This includes the Moosewood Restaurant, the natural and healthful food cuisine
that has produced 11 internationally acclaimed cookbooks (Ithaca/Tompkins County Convention
and Visitors Bureau, 2008a). But the variety extends far beyond that and illustrates yet again
Ithaca’s love of choices.
As Judith Pratt and Peggy Haine explain, “Ithaca’s international population and
adventurous tastes mean that you can sample Thai curry, Japanese sake, or Spanish tapas, as well
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as locally made bagels, ice cream and beer,” (Pratt and Haine, 2008). The official tourism guide
has restaurant classifications that far exceed the typical American, Mexican and Chinese Fare.
There is Korean, Japanese, Caribbean, Thai, Creole, Cajun, Vietnamese, and Greek. The result is
162 restaurants offering anything that your heart desires.
The sights, smells and feel of these farms produce an evocative image of the scene and
showcases the area’s countryside and farmers. The variety of restaurants represents the well
embraced diversity of the community. The end result is that the regional imagery contributes to
differentiating the local rural economy from the homogeneity of standardized products that are
available elsewhere. This in turn reaffirms the local brand and adds the important contributing
facet of niche food product marketing.
WINE
Of all niche food products, Ithaca holds a powerful attractor in its local winery boom.
Wine is a particularly wellarticulated form of food attractions that brings to the table not only a
strong product, but also the scenic winescapes and beautiful agricultural enrichment. Wineries are
also a powerful force in attracting tourists who both benefit the cellardoor operations in exurban
locations but also the local infrastructure and peripheral activities.
Wine tourism is literally any visitation to vineyards, wineries, wine festivals or wine
shows in which the primary motivation is to experience and taste grape wines. The tourism form
is heavily linked to the land, transforming the local landscape into a particular amalgamation of
agriculture, industry and tourism (Hashimoto and Telfer, 2003). From a communications
perspective, wine tourism is a strong boost to any provincial city and the surrounding area
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because it reinforces the regions current market position, one built on the images of the idyll
landscapes and natural beauty. It also diversifies the portfolio of cultural and agricultural tourism
products – products that are clearly tied back to the location and the region’s positioning in the
brand marketplace (Williams and Dossa, 2003).
The history of wine in the Finger Lakes goes back to the topography’s formation. The
receding glaciers gave upstate New York a unique combination of geography and climate with
the numerous bodies of water acting as natural air conditioning, cooling in the summer and
warming in the winter. The effect is that the vines are sheltered from both temperature extremes.
Until the 1930 the only grapes grown in the area were indigenous American varieties, technically
known as vitis labrusca. At that point, FrenchAmerican varieties were developed to combine the
best of both worlds – the flavor of the European varieties and the hardiness of the American
vines. In 1951, an immigrant from Europe, Dr. Konstantin Frank earned his PhD from Cornell
University and bucked the conventional wisdom that the delicate European vitis vinifera could
not be grown in the Finger Lakes (New York Wine and Grape Foundation, 2008). This sparked
what has come to be known as the “Vinifera Revolution,” a movement that has motivated New
York wineries to produce wines of equal caliber to the Europeans, and illustrating that “a long
history in wine making is not needed to produce competitive wine products,” (Williams and
Dossa, 2003, p.2).
At this point, New York is home to the thirdlargest wineproducing region in America.
Compared to Europe’s wine regions, the wine county in New York is huge, spanning more
than500 miles from eastern Long Island to the state’s western border with Pennsylvania. All
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together, the region is the number two grape juice producer in America and the state with the
third most total grape acreage. The annual harvest produces 160,000 tons of grapes with 30% of
them going to wards wine making and the remaining 70% of them going toward grape juice
production. There are 32,000 acres of vineyards and 240 wineries. More than 220 of these
wineries were established since 1976 and all together they have produced more than 200 million
bottles of wine (New York Wine and Grape Foundation, 2008).
The wineries around Cayuga Lake were the first to organize themselves into an structured
Wine Trail in the early 1980s. Now the longest running wine trail in New York State, the Cayuga
Wine Trail has worked to fulfill its dream: “working together to bring more visitors to their doors
to takes the fruits of their labors,” (Cayuga Wine Trail, Inc., 2008, cover). As of 2008, 15
wineries, one cidery, one meadery and four distilleries are a part of the trail. Together that have
won 4,906 national and international medals and awards, including four of the Governor’s Cups,
“known as the Oscars of New York Wines,” (Cayuga Wine Trail, Inc., 2008, cover).
It is a wellknown fact that Ithaca acts as the hub for the area’s wineries – both those on
Cayuga lake as well as 36 wineries on neighboring Seneca Lake (Seneca Lake Winery
Association, Inc., 2008). It doesn’t matter that Tompkins County only has one winery in its
borders, Six Mile Creek Vineyard, because Ithaca offers what the surrounding area cannot offer
to wine tourists: housing, restaurants, entertainment, arts and nightlife. “We have a tremendous
number of people who come here and stay here in order to visit the wineries. As an entry point to
the winery area, Ithaca is an excellent entry point. We have better hotels, we have the restaurants,
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we have an immense amount of dining facilities – excellent not chain restaurants, really good
quality. So people can build packages around those sort of things,” (McPheeters, 2008).
COLLEGES AND EDUCATION
It is hard to separate Ithaca and education. With two major universities and a well
established and revolutionary community college, it is understandable why “Ithaca and higher
education have been synonymous for nearly 150 years” (Ithaca/Tompkins County Convention
and Visitors Bureau, 2008b). This history is one that has a direct impact on the look, feel and
brand that Ithaca possesses. Despite the modern and eccentric feel that Ithaca emits, the “Ivy
covered halls of Cornell gives it an old feel. Even though Ithaca has a new feel as a city, there’s
that idea of tradition with the colleges that makes it feel a little bit like the old world,” (Bossard,
2008). It is an understatement to say that the Ithaca area values education. Highereducation has
a twofold presence in Ithaca: first is the huge number of highly educated individuals that live in
the area and secondly, there are a plethora of institutions.
College attainment is an indicator of the level of skill that an area’s population has and
the amount of talent and specialty that they bring to the table (Cortright, 2006). More than 48.8%
of local residents have a bachelor’s degree, excluding college students and others who are not
officially permanent residents of Tompkins County. Roughly 27.4% of the residents of Tompkins
County, age 25 and over, have earned a master’s, professional or doctorate degree. These figures
put Ithaca well over the national average (Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce, 2008).
During the 2000 census, only 24% of Americans had a bachelor’s, professional or graduate
degree (Tompkins County Area Development, 2008). With so many welleducated residents, the
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supply of knowledgeable workers is of colossal proportions. Ithaca was ranked eight by
Kiplingers Personal Finance’s top 50 smartest places to live in 2006 (Stoff, 2008) and ranked
first in the 2006 Forbes ranking of areas with educational attainment (Pratt and Haine, 200&).
Expansion Management Magazine ranked Ithaca as the number one city for knowledge workers
in 2006 and the city continues to live up to this name (Pratt and Haine, 2007).
The sheer number of college graduates shows Ithaca’s true value – especially as societies
are transforming from economies based on financial and material capital to human capital. The
most indispensable asset in a knowledge economy is smart people (Cortright, 2006), and having a
holistic environment that can support the emotional, spiritual and intellectual needs of citizens
supports the growth of these people. These needs are nourished through the development and
support of imagination, an inner force that requires access to information, schools to develop and
generate intellectual capacity, and an arts and cultural scene to stimulate alternate thinking – all of
which are present in Ithaca. The result is the development of a reputation that attracts creativity
and therefore investment and talented individuals: “great minds naturally gravitate towards
environments that are vibrant and creative,” (Gilmore, 2003, p.170).
But it is not enough merely to rely on existing, aging human capital. “Communities that
grow and prosper manage to retain their talented young adults while attracting people from the
outside, such as young families, professionals, artists, business people and entrepreneurs, and
seniors,” (Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce, 2008). It is important that talent is retained,
attracted and even developed in a homegrown way.
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As the numberone industry in the area and the largest employer education is literally
Ithaca’s passion, their past, and their future (Ithaca/Tompkins County Convention and Visitors
Bureau, 2008b). The result is that much of the area revolves around the three main colleges in
Tompkins County: Cornell University, Ithaca College and Tompkins Cortland Community
College.
Cornell University was founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White.
The youngest member of the Ivy League, the university is the only Ivy that has incorporated a
state landgrant institution into its university to create a unique mingling of private university
benefit with public college access. The result has also enabled a blending of the humanities and
the applied sciences. Composed of 13 different colleges and schools, Cornell has a 745acre
campus with 260 major buildings. It is one of the top 10 research institutions for nano and
microcommercialization research and facilities (Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce,
2008; Pratt and Haine, 2007).
Ithaca College was originally founded in 1892 as the Ithaca Conservatory of Music in the
downtown Dewitt Park. Since then, the college has moved onto Ithaca’s South Hill and expanded
to a university with five different schools with 100 programs and over 2,000 individual course
offerings. Ithaca still has a strong emphasis in music and the arts and upholds its intimate
conservatory feel by maintaining a student to instructor ration of 12 to 1 (Tompkins County
Chamber of Commerce, 2008; Bossard, 2008). The college, though predominantly a place for
undergraduate study has pushed itself forward on the graduate market and is now recognized as
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one of the premier graduate programs. In 2007, U.S. News ranked Ithaca College as having the
number seven top Northeast master’s level programs (Pratt and Haine, 2007).
The newest and most unique member of the higheducation family in Tompkins County
is the SUNY affiliate Tompkins Cortland Community College (TC3). A joint effort between
Tompkins and Cortland Counties, TC3 is not the typical community college because it strongly
emphasizes the transition from twoyear to fouryear academic programs. Many of the programs
at TC3 are strictly designed for students who are using the school as a launching pad into a four
year program at an accredited university or college rather than for simply finishing a twoyear
associate’s degree – and many of the students are not simply transferring to state schools. Jean
McPheeters notes that, “In terms of transfers into Cornell University, the largest single college
that transfers into Cornell University is TC3,” (McPheeters, 2008). The school has developed
intimate relationships and articulation agreements with the nearby Cornell and Ithaca College
primarily knowing that a lot of the local jobs require a bachelor’s degree.
The colleges, and particularly Cornell University, play a large role in everything in the
local community. Of all of the employment opportunities in Tompkins County, private education
sector represented 26% (12,500) of all jobs in 2005. As of 2006, Cornell was the number one
employer with 9,480 employees, and Ithaca College followed in second with 1,525 employees.
And if education wasn’t enough, the fourth largest employer is the Ithaca City School District
with 1,200 employees (Tompkins County Area Development, 2008).
Beyond employment the schools represent a huge proportion of the population, a student
population that has only grown in the past 30 years. With 30,298 students actively participating in
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highereducation opportunities at Cornell University, Ithaca College and Tompkins Cortland
Community College, the student population rivals the city’s 30,343 residents and the county’s
100,407.
A large number of the tourists that come to the area are also affiliated with the colleges.
The Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce has done numerous studies about what attracts
people to the area as visitors and the number one pull has always been the same: colleges. “They
come because they are brining kids to look at the colleges. They’re coming to see their kids.
They’re coming for graduation and et cetera, et cetera…” (McPheeters, 2008).
Stephen Kimball explained that it is different to have a University be the main business
of a town instead of a company: “It provides a lot more vitality – an influx of young people and
even older students that tend to mix things up,” (Kimball, 2008). Kimball is not alone in his
argument. Joseph Cortright rationalizes that the movement of the young and welleducated is
always a direct reflection of an area’s vitality. As the most mobile people in the nation and the
most likely population to move across state lines, the movement acts as an indicator of the trends
in workforce education and availability. Places with lots of these young and welleducated
individuals today are the places that are likely to have the vitality and invigorating resources of
tomorrow’s welleducated workers in the years ahead (Cortright, 2006, p.12).
The second aspect of having the main industry of a city be education is that there is a
huge infiltration of notfor profits. As McPheeters notes, “We have more notforprofits than
most places. First of all, our largest businesses are notforprofit: Cornell, Ithaca College, the
hospital. They are notfor profits. Those are our largest businesses,” (McPheeters, 2008). The
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entire are economy and way of life is set in motion by the notforprofit attitude, not the corporate
structure of many other successful local economies.
The stimulation that Ithaca receives from these students hits a large number of sectors
beyond the university because of the colleges’ ability to dilute the typical division that appears
between colleges and the local community, a division that is known as the ‘town and gown’
separation. Often this separation develops because there are lots of events and entertainment
opportunities already happening on campus enabling the college population to develop their own
community (Bossard, 2008). But Ithaca benefits from the colleges’ efforts to develop programs
that integrate their students into the Ithaca and Tompkins County community.
The programs at Ithaca College are well integrated into the community, ensuring Ithaca
truly lives up to its display at the local History Center: ‘Ithaca College is Ithaca’s College.’
Having started and grown out of downtown, the solid connection to the Commons area has
continued to remain despite the fact that Ithaca College now is situated on South Hill at the
southern end of town.
Ithaca College students particularly have an impact on the local arts community. They
provide employees, volunteers, audiences and inters for all of the local theatre companies in the
town and work to support the local Ticket Center. Cornell students also participate, but to a lesser
degree. One of the key ties that enables this interdependency is Ithaca College’s theater arts
management program. The program requires internships in the surrounding community,
providing the student with experience and insight and the local arts organizations with the
youthful energy and welltrained students (Bossard, 2008).
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Where Ithaca College interacts with the arts community, Cornell has ample interaction
with the local agriculture base and community development initiatives. The Cornell Cooperative
Extension (CCE) program actively recruits Cornell students as volunteers and interns. Their
‘Summer of Service’ work study program is structured as a threeway service and learning
partnership between the student, the community and CCE and affiliate nonprofit organizations.
In the program, the students do everything from helping to provide free lunches to impoverished
children to farmer outreach and workshop development (Cornell University, 2008b).
AN INTERNATIONAL PRESENCE
Another incredibly valuable aspect of colleges is the diversity of people that they bring to
the area, even if only for transient residence. Both Ithaca College and Cornell University bring a
huge range of students, professors and researchers to Ithaca with diverse international
backgrounds. These people share their experiences, culture, and lifestyles and add their
perspective to the amalgamation of options in Ithaca greatly contributing to the freethinking
persona that is so deeply valued.
As of 2007, Cornell’s student population consisted of 3,654 foreign students. These
students comprised 17.7% of the total student body. The only population of students that
exceeded foreign students in percentage were those from New York State, 30.7%. Foreign
students had a higher percentage than those from the Middle States, New England, the Midwest,
the West, the South and the Southwest (Cornell University, 2008c). At Ithaca College’s student
body is highly representative as well, with students from 68 countries, including the United
States, ranging from Albania to Zimbabwe (Ithaca College, 2007b). Added to this international
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student population is the 10.5 estimated percent of foreign born residents living in Tompkins
County in 2000 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2008b).
In an increasingly global economy, the role that international talent plays is becoming
especially important, as is the ability for regions to attract the best workforce and ideas from
around the world. The knack that the United States has had for drawing in international aptitude
has historically played a key role in establishing technology leadership and economic growth.
“Places that can attract talented workers from other nations can grow economies more easily than
those that draw only from a domestic pool of talent. Moreover, the greater diversity of experience
of workers from outside the U.S. may help U.S. firms be more competitive,” (Cortright, 2006, p.
16).
As globalization is reaching new heights, the spread of culture is not merely just products
and ideas. People are scattering themselves across the planet easily, cheaply and quickly and
developing relationships and new ties to people around the world..“The importance of goods
movement is increasingly being surpassed by the connections among people, which are the
lifeblood of nearly all urban economies. We define these connections broadly, from the far
reaching global to the intensely local. Great cities are connected at all these levels,” (Cortright,
2006, p.28). Basically the essence of success in a global economy is the ability to tap into the
global marketplace by developing relationships.
These associations become communication channels for the flow of ideas and knowledge.
Joseph Cortright (2006) indicates that these channels are “functions of ‘local buzz and global
pipelines,” (Cortright, 2006, p.29) using the intimacy that can only be grown on the local level to
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transfer ideas, brands and identity on an international level. He continues that, “Areas have to
have their own strong localized interactions and knowledge and function well locally, but they
must also have easy and extensive connections to other places with ‘buzz’ around the
world,” (Cortright, 2006, p.29).
These international relationships can be as firmly developed as a foreignborn person
taking up residence in Ithaca and maintaining business and educational ties with their home
country, or as loose as a study abroad student spending one semester in Ithaca and returning home
with an ‘Ithaca is Gorges’ teeshirt.
Beyond foreigners coming to regions, locals also have the capability of creating bonds
through their own travel. Cortright notes that the extent to which locals travel is a clear indicator
of global connections. “Foreign travel, whether for business or pleasure, expands awareness of a
region’s residents to other places and cultures. These wider connections and experiences can
prove to be an economic advantage,” (Cortright, 2006, p.40). Proof of Ithacan’s travel can been
seen in the history of the local airport. Ithaca’s airport has had to undergo a number of
renovations and development projects since the first airport opened in Ithaca in 1948. In 1994 the
current 33,000 squarefoot terminal was built to keep up with the ever increasing number of
travelers and on April 10, 2008 the airport completed a new aviation hanger to cap off the decade
of growth and expansion. Travel continues to increase in the Ithaca area. In 2004 the airport
served roughly 140,000 passengers. In 2007 the Ithaca Tompkins Regional Airport served over
170,000 passengers (Ithaca Tompkins Regional Airport, 2008).
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Either way, the link is established and is a means for communicating the value of the
Ithaca community, its ideas, its people, its landscape and its businesses. This however does not
mean that these global connections are a more valuable component of location development than
local connections, nor do they substitute for what the local connections can do to increase morale,
spirit, and effectiveness. They do however improve the recognizability of a location and the
breadth of its presence.
INNOVATION
When push comes to shove the key to making a location marketable, attractive, vibrant
and worthy of praise are the local achievements in terms of creativity and innovation. Simon
Anholt (2007) notes that, “Creative is the opposite of boring: this is the factor which perhaps
more than any other ensures that the nation, region or city stands a chance of being noticed in an
increasingly noisy and crowded marketplace,” (Anholt, 2007, p.76). In effect, the ability for to
generate new ideas and translate them into a tangible reality and product is a critical source of
competitive advantage – something that is not just a mandate for businesses but regions as well.
Globalization is turning the world economy into one that is knowledgebased. To be
active on the international marketplace and avoid isolation and vulnerability, it is imperative that
regions embrace the skills and abilities of their residents and foster them to shape their economic
destiny (Cortright, 2007). The presence of these talents cannot be assumed. As Joseph Cortright
says:
“The ability to create new ideas everything from earthshaking breakthroughs in genetic
engineering and nanotechnology to better ways to deliver packages or sew a shirt – is
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what drives prosperity. And despite proclamations that the world is flat, the capability of
generating new ideas is not evenly distributed across space. Certain places, with strong
aggregations of talent, clusters of innovative firms, key research institutions and a
business and social climate conducive to change and risktaking, account for a
disproportionate share of these valuable new ideas,” (Cortright, 2006, p.1819).
And Tompkins County has all of this. The area is one of these blessed places thanks to the local
culture, the magnetism for creative artists, the presence of universities, the nonprofit base, the
international population, and the innovative people. Tompkins County has everything from
Cornell, one of the top 10 research institutions for nano and microcommercialization research
and facilities (Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce, 2008; Pratt and Haine, 2007) and to the
credit of being the birthplace of the Ice Cream Sunday in 1882 (Bonn, 2008).
Many and most of these ideas cannot be measured directly: they are invisible and
weightless. However, their presence leaves distinct footprints on the cultural and economic
landscape which can be traced (Cortright, 2006).
One of the easies ways to measure level innovation in an area is to look at the intellectual
property rights associated with an area. With 661 patents originating from Tompkins County
between 1990 and 1999, the county far exceeds any of its neighbors: Tioga County (245),
Schuyler County (57), Cayuga County (106), Chemung County (395), Seneca County (91) and
Cortland County (83) (Office for Patent and Trademark Information, 2000). On a more current
level, in 2004 The Cornell Center for Technology, Enterprise and Commercialization received
225 inventions from Cornell faculty and staff alone, filed 88 applications for United States
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patents and 40 for overseas patents, licensed 87 patents for commercial use and helped start five
companies. At the end of the year, the center held rights to 594 domestic patents and 238 overseas
patents and was administering 497 active licenses (Cornell, 2008a). “Of course, not all good ideas
are patented, and many ideas that are patented turn out to be worthless, but patent activity is a
useful proxy for innovation,” (Cortright, 2006, p.20). The sheer number of ideas that Tompkins
County residents are protecting as intellectual property illustrates the groundbreaking
achievements that the area is capable of and has already accomplished.
Trumansburg, just minutes north of Ithaca, was where Bob Moog invented the Moog
Synthesizer in 1954, one of the first widely used electronic musical instruments that catapulted
the music industry forward in genres such as rap, blues, funk, jazz, rock and roll and hip hop, and
even motivated and changed the sounds of the infamous Beatles (Moog Music, 2008). In the early
days of moving pictures, Ithaca was home to a silent movie studio that enabled directors to take
advantage of the varied landscape of gorges, hills, waterfalls, and historic buildings that
captivated the eyes of early movie makers.
One of the significant innovations has been the way that the town has coped with revenue
leakage and promoted the local economy: the Ithaca HOUR, the first local currency that has
inspired similar systems worldwide (Pratt and Haine, 2007). In 1991, Paul Glover developed the
Ithaca HOUR as the first form of modern local currency, a system that promotes local economic
strength and community selfreliance. Worth roughly $10, one hour of work naturally earns one
Ithaca HOUR of payment. The first dispersal of Ithaca Hours was at the GreenStar Cooperative
Market. Since 1991, several million dollars value of Ithaca HOURS have been traded. By paying
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wages and selling goods and services in this local currency, Ithaca has been able to keep money
local, building the Ithaca economy and developing a strong sense of community pride and
interconnectivity. Currently over 900 participants publicly accept Ithaca HOURS for goods and
services and some local employers and employees have agreed to pay or receive partial wages in
Ithaca Hours. These businesses include: the public library, local movie theatres, restaurants,
healers, plumbers, electricians, landlords, the Alternatives Federal Credit Union (a local bank),
and the Cayuga Medical Center (the local hospital). Now run as a nonprofit, Ithaca Hours, Inc.
also makes interestfree loans of Ithaca HOURS to local businesses and grants to local nonprofits
in order to spur the investment in the local economy and develop economic sustainability (Ithaca
Hours, Inc., 2005).
Another innovative presence can be seen in the way that Ithaca develops local
organizations, reworking a typical business and developing it beyond previously held notions. For
example, the Tompkins County SPCA, originally founded in 1902, was turned into a ‘nokill’
shelter in 1999. The shelter realized its ‘nokill’ vision in 2002, saving 100% of healthy and
treatable animals and becoming the first county in the nation to achieve this level of efficiency
(Tompkins County SPCA, 2007; Pratt and Haine, 2007). The shelter went beyond the normal
capacities of animal shelters in 2004 with the opening of the new, environmentally minded,
sustainable facility that they boast is ‘good for people, good for animals.’ The facility was the
first registered ‘green’ animal shelter in the United States and provides comfortable, healthy
homelike settings for cats and dogs. This means that there are no bars in the entire facility – all
doors are made of ecofriendly glass and for animals capable and in need of socialization,
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particularly cats, there are suites that are designed to accommodate multiple animals with
climbing structures and toys built into the facility. (Tompkins County SPCA, 2007).
Other innovations range include: EcoVillage, the sustainable cohousing neighborhood
that works to change the impact that human culture has on the environment and itself; Kendal at
Ithaca, a locally initiated retirement community that created a partnership with the Kendal
Corporation to develop a 212 cottage community in affiliation with the local hospital (Pratt and
Haine, 2007); and Ithaca Forward, a revolutionary partnership between the Tompkins County
Chamber of Commerce and young professionals that works to facilitate the ability of young
workers to network and become a more integrated part of the community. As a part of Ithaca
Forward, the ‘Jump on Board’ program has enabled young professionals to connect with local
notforprofits seeking to break out of the cycle of continually recycling board member and find
new energy and ideas. The ‘Jump on Board’ program made 25 placements in 2006 and in 2007
tripled that number (McPheeters, 2008).
Joseph Cortright (2006) argues that another means of measuring innovation and
advancement is to look at the way communities are engaged on a personal level in volunteering,
notforprofit and community oriented endeavors, and politics. “The degree to which people
freely give their time and energy to advance community interests is a good indicator of
community involvement. Community involvement has economic as well as social
benefits,” (Cortright, 2006, p.32). The Ithaca community is based on activism, notforprofits and
volunteering.
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There are a number of volunteer, board member, and community action opportunities for
anyone to roll up their sleeves and participate in. Initiatives include housing, healthcare, mental
health, elderly care, child services, youth activities, homelessness, nutrition, family support and
more (Tompkins County Area Development, 2007). An example of the power of Ithaca’s
volunteerism is the local Sciencenter, which was completely built by volunteers and continues to
incorporate volunteers into its daily operations (Pratt and Haine, 2007).
The notforprofit base is readily apparent and has influenced the way that the entire city
operates, including the functioning of the Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce. According
to Jean McPheeters, the president of the Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce,
“Notforprofits have altered the way that the Chamber operates. Our policies are
probably different than the policies of a lot of Chambers. Many Chambers that are really
composted of totally forprofit people may have these policies that say ‘we shouldn’t
have changes in the minimum wage bill.’ That’s not going to fly here. It doesn’t fly with
our members. They say that’s crazy. They say ‘I’m already paying people well over the
minimum wage, why shouldn’t my competitors.” So there is just a different thought
process,” (McPheeters, 2008).
This thought process is a direct reflection of the progressive attitude affiliated with nonprofit
organizations that pervades Ithaca.
The deliberate thinking is also reflected in the political base in the Tompkins County
area. A strongly progressive area, Tompkins County is generally assumed to be a Democrat
haven, but there is also a strong number of Republicans. As Bossard says, “There’s a lot of
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conservatism, especially in the rural areas, but I think that there is an understanding and
acceptance of that, especially in Tompkins County,” (Bossard, 2008). The ability for integration
has enabled the area to develop a unique sense of political insight that pushes it to take charge, or
as Bossard says, “There’s a willingnesss to accept what the rest of N.Y. won’t,” (Bossard, 2008).
This was exemplified in the 2008 Democratic primary election in which Tompkins
County completely differed from the rest of New York State in results, According to McPheeters,
the reason was simple: “We’re different. Our economy is doing much better. We generally have a
much lower unemployment rate. Out people are different in that if you look at education levels, et
cetera. Our problems are different. We are politically very different. In the entire state of New
York this is the only county that went for Barak Obama. Every other county went to Clinton. And
we had high turnout for that election as well.” The atypical results illustrated just why Tompkins
County has such a significant draw: it’s young, hip, active, and the people are pushing the
boundaries to do things differently and in a funky kind of way.
FESTIVITIES AND A SENSE OF SELF
And how does Ithaca represent all of their complex and diverse traits: they throw a party.
The Ithaca Festival is a selfevident illustration of how Ithaca’s values, way of life, location and
landscape are inextricably linked together and translated into “a sense of community that
influences how the community celebrates,” (Derrett, 2006, p.40). The result is a complex human
dimension that is added to static dimension of space, animating the city into something that is
tangibly animated.
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In 1977, the Ithaca Festival was created as an arts fête to celebrate what they dubbed as
“the community and artist in each of us,” (Ithaca Festival, 2008). The very first festival in 1977
was funded by a NEA grant of $15,500. The project brought together professional artists of
national renown and combined them with the talents of the local community (Roberts, 2008).
The concept behind the festival’s creation was that it would bring together people in the
area to counteract what was seen as a national trend of community degradation. Former Festival
organizer, Cindy Scheibe summarized the concept and the impact that the festival had on the
unity and inspiration of the local community on the Festivals’ webpage:
“It’s like we’ve created Mardi Gras, something we’re going to have here every year. And
while it only lasts three days, the spirit will last all year and that’s what’s important. We
spend most of the long dreary winter and soggy spring wondering why we ever chose to
live in such a place...the Festival comes along and highlights all that is good and
wonderful (and sometimes hidden) here all year long.” (Ithaca Festival, 2008).
The second festival in 1978 established the annual tradition of holding the celebration on
the first weekend in June. Later on, the Festival became a highlight event of the area, sandwiched
between the Cornell University and Ithaca College graduation ceremonies held in the middle end
of May, and the GrassRoots Festival, established in 1991, and held eight weeks after the Ithaca
Festival in nearby Trumansburg the last weekend of July. Legend has it that this date was chosen
because it was the first weekend after the students left town, ensuring that the festival would be
local centric (Ithaca Festival, 2008). This year, however the festival will be held from June 19 to
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June 22, a week later to further emphasize the fact that it is the community’s festival, Ithaca’s
festival and not an affiliate of the Universities (Robert, 2008).
The festival began to symbolize Ithaca and the region’s people, values, and culture. The
emphasis on local music and arts is amplified only by the fact that everything is literally created
in Ithaca’s “backyard.” The lively celebration truly reflects the progressive upstate New York
community at the base of Cayuga Lake composed of artists, farmers, students, dreamers, absent–
minded professors, writers, activists, musicians, teachers, Tibetan monks, belly dancers, happy
families and hundreds and hundreds of rusted, but still serviceable Volvos (Ithaca Festival, 2008).
Since its inception, the Ithaca Festival has grown into a large scale celebration of a
unique community full of talent and rich with the vitality of people of all ages and ethnicities.
The first festival to be entirely financially supported by the local community without outside
grant support was in 1982. In 1986, the festival supporters created a nonprofit organization to
support the annual festivities. Now, the Ithaca Festival continues to operate as nonprofit
corporation (501–c–3). A volunteer Board of Directors establishes Festival policy. Employing a
year–round director and several seasonal part–time staff members, the organization also has more
than 200 community volunteers of all ages help transform the small town into a celebration each
year (Ithaca Festival, 2008).
One of the main benefits for local areas in the development of their brand, their image
and their identity is that they have the power to distort the distinction between performers and
audience members. As Jacob Alan Robert, executive director of the Ithaca Fest, explains, “the
84
Ithaca Festival encourages people to come to the festival and be the biggest and brightest person
that they can be. We are trying to blur the lines between participating in the festival and being in
the audience,” (Robert, 2008).In essence they are all participants in cultural sharing. The purpose
of all who partake in the festivities is the same: “participants want to emerge from the event with
stories and experiences to talk about back home,” (Derrett, 2006, p.38). The entire program of the
Ithaca Festival is littered with interactive experiences where everyone can play a part in the
performances.
The Ithaca Festival even works to create an interactive experience well before the
festivities begin. The website is set up as a blog to enable social networking and an organized
way of getting involved. The website works to get cultural organizations and Ithaca locals to use
their own written words as well as video to speak up about what they do and why they love Ithaca
– something that truly matches the theme for 2008, ‘I am Ithaca.’ The point is to get the
conversation started as soon as possible in order to allow the community to develop the Ithaca
Festival. After all it is their festival (Robert, 2008).
This is also seen in the participant oriented mentality that pervades one of the most
popular the nonorganized activities of the festival: the drumming circle. Each year, at both
Dewitt Park and Stewart Park, there are always a group of individuals who have brought their
djembes and congas to the Ithaca Festival. Often, people even bring extra drums for other
community members to use. The concept is simple: someone starts drumming and others join in.
If people are lacking a drum, they dance or tap on the trees, slap their knees, clap their hands.
Robert added, “The drum circle is a perfect metaphor for the Ithaca community. Everyone can
85
find a place. For example if you are a shy and introverted person you can still tap on a tree instead
of drumming. Everyone can find the instrument that represents themselves. It is a gravitational
pull for all to be involved in,” (Robert, 2008). The product is literally a direct reflection of the
heartbeat of Ithaca.
A WORD OF MOUTH CONCLUSION
Large locations have the finances, the resources, and the speaking power to develop high
budget campaigns to promote themselves on the worldwide marketplace. The smaller provincial
cities were, as a result, often squeezed out of the benefits of branding because of their
powerlessness to promote on such a large scale. However, small places have the advantage of
interacting with people on an extremely personal level through arts, culture, food and innovation
– they can in effect tie the person’s identity to the location.
When these ties are developed, it is important to recognize that they too are branding
channels and that much of the publicity that a destination, particularly smaller destinations, will
receive comes from the unplanned and uncoordinated spread of the message through word of
mouth. In essence, location branding is the phenomenon that “public speaks to public” and the
true image can only be realized when “a substantial proportion of the population – not just the
civil servants and paid figureheads – gets behind the strategy and lives it out in their everyday
dealings with the outside world,” (Anholt, 2005, p.119).
And this is exactly what Howard Cogan did when he developed ‘Ithaca is Gorges.’ As
Jean McPheeters says, “He never copyrighted it. He was a smart enough adman to know what he
was doing when he didn’t do anything, and he did it for a specific reason,” (McPheeters, 2008) –
86
to give the brand legs. As exemplified with the cooperation in the green community, the
affiliation development initiatives in the Chamber of Commerce and the social networking in the
local arts community: Ithaca is a town of matrix building.
Locals have branched out and developed these social networks throughout the
community long before the advent of the popular social networking technology and the internet..
According to Brett Bossard:
“It’s no coincidence that Ithaca and Trumansburg is host to the grassroots festival
because grassroots really does take on a new meaning in Ithaca. It seems like everyone
does have this sort of connection or the idea of social networking that is done in things
like MySpace and Facebook. Ithacan’s have in a way been doing that just through places
like GreenStar [the local cooperative market], the Dewitt Park, and the Commons.
They’ve done it for so long. The technology is just duplicating something that Ithaca has
been doing a long time,” (Bossard, 2008).
The result is that Ithaca is far ahead of many local areas in its networking capability – and the
network far exceeds Ithaca’s political boundary, the zip code borders, and the school districts.
The entire surrounding area is melded into the Ithaca networks through their mindset that location
of residence and place of business is irrelevant; people are Ithacans because they are connected to
others who also have a connection to the city.
The college students are also Ithacans, transient members of the community but members
nonetheless. Spending four or more years of their life in the area, many of them are even apt to
say that they are no longer from the place of their childhood. If you meet them while traveling the
87
world, and you ask them where they are from, you get Ithaca as the answer (Bonn, 2008). And
this is proven by the fact that, despite how reluctant they might be when they first arrive, every
student will inevitably buy the ‘Ithaca is Gorges’ teeshirt, the brilliantly green coffee mugs, and
the bumper stickers that proclaim that Ithaca is ’10 square miles surrounded by reality.’
The result is the cultivation of an army of plainclothes ambassadors – people who
individually have the power to completely and permanently affect the conversion of one potential
consumer (Anholt, 2005). “When the entire population is galvanized into becoming the
mouthpiece of a country’s [or location’s] values and qualities, then you have an advertising
medium that is actually equal to the enormous task of communicating something so complex to
so many,” (Anholt, 2007, p.105). Every act that the population does is an act of promotion, every
exchange and representation is an end in itself – it is the opportunity to build Ithaca’s overall
reputation.
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