In a development that will come as a shock to many, Dawson Creek city officials have received preliminary permission from the province to change its name as of July 1.
Mayor Dale Bumstead told the Alaska Highway News that the minor name change to Dawson’s Creek, approved at the mayor’s personal request during a closed-door meeting in Victoria, would offer long-term benefits and recognition for a city that too often lives in the shadow of the American TV drama.
“Dawson’s Creek is a well-recognized brand across North America, and there is a huge benefit to the community of leveraging that brand,” said Bumstead. “The big thing is awareness of bringing world recognition to our name.”
Most residents are familiar with the “clever” outsiders who were the “first” to discover the city’s indirect connection to the television show, but Bumstead said that sort of recognition is something the city should be capitalizing on.
“I think it’s an amazing opportunity. It’s just the natural flow that we want to move forward and have that awareness,” said Bumstead. “You’re not going to be growing flowers, plowing the ground ... we’ve got to look ahead and look to the future.”
The mayor suggested that the change would not only attract outside investment from both inside and outside Canada, but could also get the city “over the hump” in its long struggle to grow past the population level of roughly 11,000 to 12,000 at which the city has remained for five decades.
