{"id":107,"date":"2013-11-19T17:15:32","date_gmt":"2013-11-19T23:15:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/the100thmeridian.ca\/blog\/?p=107"},"modified":"2017-06-30T22:14:57","modified_gmt":"2017-07-01T03:14:57","slug":"where-the-great-plains-begin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/the100thmeridian.ca\/blog\/2013\/where-the-great-plains-begin\/","title":{"rendered":"Where the Great Plains Begin"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It is probably obvious that the name of this blog is in some way related to the Tragically Hip song \u201cAt The Hundredth Meridian\u201d, but it is also a reference to where Brandon, Manitoba lies on the map.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/BCFo0a8V-Ag\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"560\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe> <\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>So, why did I hone in on this? It actually goes back a few years. I was sitting in the car waiting for my wife to finish an errand that she was doing, when a story came on the radio about branding. Now, this is just after the horrific train wreck called <em>Spirited Energy<\/em> was introduced as a new branding for Manitoba. It did not go over well.<\/p>\n<p>So, I\u2019m sitting in the car and I\u2019m thinking of the horrible job that was done \u201cbranding\u201d Manitoba by an outside consulting firm, and I\u2019m wondering if Manitobans could have done better. So I started brainstorming and it occurred to me that songs are usually a fertile place to look for such a brand. (<em>To this day, if you play Stevie Wonder\u2019s \u201cA Place in the Sun\u201d to a Westman resident over 40, they will think of Minnedosa<\/em>).<\/p>\n<p>So, I start thinking of Canadian and Manitoba artists and possible geographic references. The Guess Who come to mind, but \u201cRunning Back to Saskatoon\u201d is hardly a song for Manitoba. Then I think of \u201cAt the Hundredth Meridian\u201d by the Hip. Now, at first I\u2019m thinking about Manitoba, but it soon occurs to me that this should be more about Brandon.<\/p>\n<p>Why? Well, simply put, the 100th meridian west actually runs through Brandon. It barely hits the city, it\u2019s right on the edge over on the west side, but it <strong>does<\/strong> run through it.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/the100thmeridian.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/100th.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"100th\" style=\"border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px\" border=\"0\" alt=\"100th\" src=\"https:\/\/the100thmeridian.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/100th_thumb.jpg\" width=\"610\" height=\"314\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The above picture from Google Earth is approximately where the 100th meridian passes through the city. It crosses Victoria Avenue just beside the Governor\u2019s Gate Apartments.<\/p>\n<p>So, when the city was talking years ago about iconic signage, It occurred to me that maybe Brandon should create new signs similar to some larger centres. Regina (example below) is a good example. Do a permanent sign at each entrance that says:<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><em><strong><font size=\"5\">Brandon<br \/><\/font><\/strong>Where the Great Plains Begin<\/em><\/p>\n<p>To me it seems like a much better slogan than \u201cYou belong in Brandon\u201d; \u201cWhere the Great Plains Begin\u201d is particular to Brandon.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/the100thmeridian.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/regina.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"regina\" style=\"border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px\" border=\"0\" alt=\"regina\" src=\"https:\/\/the100thmeridian.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/regina_thumb.jpg\" width=\"244\" align=\"right\" height=\"184\"><\/a>The whole point is to promote something unique about your city. Seriously, \u201cYou belong in Brandon\u201d could be changed to \u201cYou belong in Treherne\u201d, or \u201cYou Belong in Boise\u201d. There is nothing distinct there.<\/p>\n<p>I have floated the slogan before, and I had some really good responses from a few people. The main detractors seemed to fixate on the point that there are areas of prairie east of Brandon. They are kind of missing the point. A great slogan doesn\u2019t have to be completely true to be effective. We\u2019ve all heard \u201cWhat happens in Vegas stays in Vegas\u201d; it\u2019s not technically true, but it makes a great slogan. Besides, there is a lot of truth in saying that the Great Plains begin in Brandon. There are areas of prairie to the east, but it is west of the city that the prairie landscape seems to continue uninterrupted; east the prairie gets broken up by areas such as the Carberry Sandhills. Brandon is the first major settlement firmly situated on the prairie. Other arguments have said that the Great Plains refers to the American plains, a semantic argument at most, and not completely true. Some just don\u2019t like the Tragically Hip.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"float: left; margin: 5px 10px 5px 0px; display: inline\" src=\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/2\/2c\/Sign_at_the_100th_meridian_on_U.S._Highway_30_in_Cozad%2C_Nebraska.jpg\" width=\"326\" align=\"left\" height=\"262\">Anyway, I\u2019ve floated the idea in the past, and unfortunately it just didn\u2019t manage to catch on. At the very least I would like to see a sign on Victoria Avenue telling people that they are passing over \u201cThe 100th meridian\u2026 where the Great Plains Begin\u201d. Then we can at least lay claim to it for the future.<\/p>\n<p>If Cozad, Nebraska (Pop 4000) can do it, I would think we can.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It is probably obvious that the name of this blog is in some way related to the Tragically Hip song \u201cAt The Hundredth Meridian\u201d, but it is also a reference to where Brandon, Manitoba lies on the map. &nbsp; So, why did I hone in on this? It actually goes back a few years. I [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-municipal","category-opinion","post-preview"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/the100thmeridian.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/the100thmeridian.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/the100thmeridian.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the100thmeridian.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the100thmeridian.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/the100thmeridian.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/the100thmeridian.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the100thmeridian.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the100thmeridian.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}