After a good deal of discussion, High River council's accepted a report on a new brand for the town.

Shannon Hewlko, a creative director with Anstice Communications in Calgary says after holding consultations they landed on the idea of "Rooted In People" but with some of the "Venture Here" thrown in.

"It's still rooted in people as an overall theme, but we're giving it the adventurist twist that the Venture Here concept had, " she says. "The colours, the boldness, the attributes that the people liked and those visuals and mood boards, they're examples of what those attributes could look like visually."

Councillor Dragon Brankovich said he was left a bit cold by the brand and a bit confused.

"What other community could claim to be "rooted in people"?"

Economic Development Officer Jodi Dawson says the proof is in the pudding.

"In a lot of conversations that I've had with people who've lived here for a long time and those that have moved here, bar none, the comment I hear is 'This place is so unbelievably welcoming," Dawson says. "So others may be able to try and claim it, it's the proof points that make a brand real."

Hewlko says there's a long ways to go and once campaigns are finalized it will be unique to High River.

Councillor Bruce Masterman says he was glad to see the Highwood river represented.

"People are coming to terms with the river again, people are realizing how important the river is, the river hurt us in 2013 but it was Mother Nature, it was what was happening out west," he says. "It's a huge part of who we are and I think it would be great to turn the story around and I love the fact the main objective is not to have High River just be considered the "flood town", but having said that I think we still have to celebrate the river in a big way.

Hewlko says she and Dawson will now start working on integrating the concept into the town's new web site.

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