Rebranding Saratoga?

For nearly 100 years "Where the Trout Leap in Main Street" has been Saratoga's unofficial slogan.

At the August 20 meeting of the Saratoga Town Council, however, newly appointed Carbon County Visitors’ Council (Discover Carbon County Wyoming) representative Ellie Dana-Raymer appeared to suggest the town should explore changing the brand of Saratoga.

“Do you want to change your brand,” asked Dana-Raymer. “Cindy Loose talks about what’s the brand of the town. For many decades, it’s been ‘where the fish jump into main street.’”

Dick Perue, local historian and former Saratoga Sun publisher, said "Saratoga's first slogan promoting the great trout fishing was ‘Where Fish Jump’ penned about 1890.” Perue said the slogan had multiple mentions in mottos and slogans until the 1927 change to "Where the Trout Leap in Main Street" all revolving around trout.

An article in The Big Sky Journal ("Good Medicine on the North Platte,” https://bigskyjournal.com/good-medicine-on-the-north-platte) describes the purported beginning of the brand.

"Its renown spreading, a 1910 story on Saratoga in The Outing Magazine was entitled, “The Greatest Trout Fishing Town in the World.” Saratoga’s current motto—“Where the Trout Leap in Main Street”—was borrowed from the title of a 1927 Outdoor Living magazine article on the area by writer Billy O’Neil. Local lore has it that O’Neil had been sitting on the riverside porch of Saratoga’s Sierra Madre Trout Club, perhaps observing the aerial antics of North Platte trout. Even in this age of unrelenting hype, the slogan seems perfectly appropriate displayed on Saratoga’s downtown light posts".

"Where the fish jump into Main Street might not be truly representative of Saratoga any longer,” said Dana-Raymer. “Probably need to move on from that.”

Some slogans such as “Adventure starts here," "Small Town – Big Adventures" or "Trailhead to the Mountains" were mentioned as possible replacement mottos gathered by the new visitors’ council representative.

Councilwoman Kathy Beck suggested creating a flier containing a QR code with a survey for locals to have a voice in a possible new branding. The council thought this might be a good idea and Dana-Raymer offered multiple suggestions could be included in the survey as write-in votes do not necessarily work in these types of surveys. The survey could also be posted on the town's website to generate more available voting for best new slogan.

From Valley Foods to the Platte Valley Community Center, trout are as abundant in branding as they are in the Platte River running through town. Multiple businesses and events begin their design process with the trout in a logo, slogan or brand development. Even the Town of Saratoga website (townofsaratoga.org) has a huge rainbow trout on its landing page.

This year, Saratoga/Platte Valley Chamber of Commerce CEO Amanda Knotwell used a trout in front of a beer stein for this year’s Steinley Cup Microbrew Festival logo. Knotwell said she uses the Saratoga slogan in conjunction with the overall promotion of "The Good Times Valley" which includes Saratoga, Encampment, Riverside and Ryan Park.

“I do believe the representative for Discover Carbon County Wyoming had good intentions when the idea was brought to the Saratoga Town Council, I just do not think that the idea was fully thought out before the presentation,” said Knotwell. “There is nothing wrong with change or with updating your brand, but the history of our little piece of heaven here in the Platte Valley is worth all the stories that go with it and that includes the iconic ‘Where the trout leap in Main Street.’”

Dana-Raymer said a number of other adventures and venues are now available to Saratoga and the surrounding areas than in previous years. Aside from trout fishing, she said, these other options occurring throughout the Valley might better reflect what appeals to tourists and encourage tourism. Dana-Raymer asked the council to think about a change and what that might look like in bringing tourism to the Valley.

Leslie Jefferson, CEO of Discover Carbon County Wyoming, remarked that "we (CCVC) are not actively seeking to rebrand Saratoga or any other community in Carbon County".

Jefferson said the organization will be using grant funding to create a master plan with a Destination Development Coordinator and work with "each of our 11 communities" in Carbon County.