Before I was born, my parents went back and forth on what I should be named. Back and forth it went with my mom advocating for Aidan, while my dad advocated for the flashy Dexter Fernando back and forth until they went until they agreed on the name Aidan. 

I’ve thought recently of what my life would be like if Dexter Fernando had won out, would any aspect of my life change? Would anything be different? And through all of this self-reflection, I came to one realization, I don’t think anything major would change.

I would still be the same guy interested in radio, sports, music and writing. Because it’s not the name that defines us, it’s the environment we grow in that can create those major changes. 

The same can be said about the tourism brand for Carbon County “The Carbon Corridor,” which was adopted in 2019. The name change isn’t something that changes who we are, rather instead provides a more appealing brand identity for those outside of the area to come to explore all that Carbon has to offer, think of it as an outward-facing initiative.

Castle Country Radio sat down with Tina Grange, the tourism specialist for Carbon County to talk about the past, present and future of the Carbon Corridor Brand.

“ Back in 2018 is when those conversations started and there was a new committee that was created and it was the Community Economic Council,” explained Grange of the origins of this project,” And then shortly after that, I applied for a grant. We had Roger Brooks come and secret shop our area, all of our small towns, and we did a big presentation at the university for all those facts and findings. It was shortly after that the Utah Office of Tourism reached out and said, ‘We’re seeing the success that you guys are having from the Roger Brooks visit, we want to incorporate a destination development plan and branding and marketing through our co-op grant, but we need a pilot county to figure out how that’s going to work.’ And they asked if Carbon County would be interested?” 

Grange continued,” And so first of all, we went to our tax advisory board to get their recommendation, which then we presented to the commissioners and they approved us to go through the process.”

After this Grange discussed the parties that were involved and the roles they played in the rebrand. “Once we got a visit from the company that we are going to work with, we posted agendas for meetings for community members, and business owners to attend.” Grange continued,” They went and interviewed and talked to businesses. They spoke to locals, just eating in restaurants. And they gathered all this data and information, which then they presented us with a facts and finding report.”

Grange described the next steps of the rebrand,” So there were so many people involved with gathering the information and then looking at narrowing it down to a more cohesive group of people. Because you can’t work with a hundred, but you should ask a hundred for their feedback.”

“And then once the facts and findings report was presented in city meetings, in public forums we kind of came up with two different marketing concepts, which brought forth a couple of different brand ideas … there was a process that we all contributed to. So it’s not something that I decided, it’s something that was decided on by a group of people.”

Next Grange dove into the nitty-gritty of the rebrand, talking about core elements of the ‘Carbon Corridor’ brand.” I think that the biggest element of the brand is that you can see each one of our cities in the brand and the messaging. That was important to us.” Grange explained,” We believed in the uniqueness and we thought this is going to take all of us. We’re not going to be ‘Visit Price’, we’re not going to be ‘Visit Helper’. It’s going to take every one of our cities. So that’s the biggest element is that you can see a piece of each one of our towns and cities in our brand and they’re represented in that, so nobody’s left out.”

Despite the rigorous planning and community involvement efforts put into the rebrand, there have been critics of the change,” But I’ll be honest with you, not everybody liked it. I will say that change is very hard. And we see that all the time in our small communities.” Grange explained,” The rebrand is way more than a logo. I’m sure you know that. And we’re delivering the message to start here … The message that we’re trying to deliver is to exit at these exits, every one of these small towns. And we’re trying to show them Helper has this, Price has this, Wellington has this, East Carbon has this; spend a day, spend a weekend, spend a week. It’s possible to do that in the Carbon Corridor.

The promotional material for the Carbon Corridor has been seen all across the Western United States, advertising ventures across the Carbon Corridor such as geocaching tours, off-roading destinations, hiking, art and food tours and spotlighting the different towns of Carbon County.

According to the 2023 tourism report for the county, the Expedia campaign for the county served over 207,000 individuals, which resulted in 95 additional room nights booked at local hotels, generating $12,000 in gross revenue.

The report also discusses how the county’s QR code campaign had users from six different states utilizing the codes.

“The dollars that come in from tourism have grown year over year over year. We are funded completely from transient room tax and restaurant tax.” Grange explained regarding the funding for the marketing.

The money raised from the initiatives doesn’t just sit and do nothing, Grange explained,” The money has allowed us to give back to the event center, which is a huge place that supports our locals. So that’s our recreation department and all the things they offer like softball and your kids play soccer there. So tourism dollars help alleviate the tax burden on our residents.”

Rounding us out, Grange explained how the brand plans to evolve as the years go on,” It’s always changing and it’ll change as our destination changes. As we add and as we use those dollars to put in new trails and other things our locals love to do, you’ll see that marketing starts to change. I think the future is bright for Carbon County as a whole with economic development and tourism. There’s a lot of things that people don’t see until it’s out there, but there’s a lot of things happening, and we’re so blessed to be able to be where we are today.”

For more information on what the Carbon Corridor has to offer you can visit their website or their Facebook page or Instagram.

*Photo Courtesy of Carbon County Tourism