OP/ED: Deer - latest tourist attraction or dinner?
By Nik Green
Touching on the deer population is something I exclaimed I would never bother with as the whole thing is really absurd. Seems the absurdity has reached levels that make me want to dive in as Mayor Taylor puts us on the map again with his apparent Charles Bronson approach to deer control in Grand Forks. Whether he intended to or not is also in question as the story seemed to snowball from a fluff piece to national media-worthy in a matter of hours. What started as a potentially tongue in cheek response to a request during slow news times seems to have expanded at a rate much like that of the deer population itself.
Where do my feelings lie? That’s a tough one. For one, I’m friends with Brian and family so I have to remember to be neutral while donning my writing cap. Another issue is my unbending belief in the “any publicity is good publicity” theory which Taylor has toyed with a number of times in recent memory–to varying effect.
While I was initially taken aback by the Globe and Mail article in which Taylor declared war on the deer by suggesting the general public could shoot them and serve them to tourists, the marketer in me loved it. There we were, in the national media again due to Taylor. My belief is that the area is in dire need of a boost with industry leaving, the population aging and the number of appealing tourist-related attractions being fewer than Keremeos in December.
Those who say the town hasn’t changed are the same ones who haven’t stepped away to witness the decline upon returning. They are the same folks who disregard dwindling employment in favour of babbling on about the beauty of the rivers. It’s that line of thinking that makes me swing further in the other direction, back the nuttier ideas that come along to boost the area’s publicity and make it known we do in fact still have a town. I wonder how hard it would be to shoot deer while propelling an airboat down the Granby? If that doesn’t attract tourists I don’t know what will.
Do I think arming the general public and opening fire on Bambi is a great idea? Not at all, no. Arming the bored and unemployed has never fared well in history. I’m sure of it, as is most of South Carolina.
However, the likelihood of that actually happening is nil, and I think Taylor knows it. It does, however, get us in the news for something a little different, which I’m all for. Maybe the tourist who is pushing on to Nelson will remember that tidbit of quirky info and actually get out of the car in Grand Forks while en route to their destination.
It’s all in how you look at it. You don’t see tourists proud to be standing on the graves of three motorists at the Hope slide, they are there because they heard about it and want to see more of the periphery.
Naysayers will invariably use (overuse) the “he’s smoked too much pot,” reference while sitting around contributing little to solve the problem themselves, but I think they fail to articulate the mayor’s subtle ability to know when to apply the gas in a specific area, media-wise. Last month I interviewed Brian for a piece we did on a travel television show called West Coast Escapes. He pitched the area wonderfully with no mention of deer or marijuana in sight. Our crew was delighted that Brian was able to hit on key tourism points while also not sounding like a rehearsed politician, a skill past mayors have lacked.
The ideas themselves may not always be on point, but the fact the man has brought more attention to our area than anyone else is something that should not be overlooked. I relate his antics to Evil Knievel. Do you think Knievel thought he’d make it across the Grand Canyon? Of course not. Did you tune in to see him promote it?
Exactly.
