Content area
Full Text
DAUPHIN, LANCASTER AND YORK COUNTIES
Central Pennsylvania's cities are embracing branding to drive tourism and economic development. But the individual efforts are still in their infancy, and it could take years before the cities see dividends.
York has been promoting itself as a revolutionary place for more than five years, said Kevin Schreiber, the city's economic development director. "Revolutionary York" is meant to convey both the city's history and a vision for its new or revolutionary future, he said.
York is backing initiatives such as the Artist Homestead program, which helps artists buy historic homes in the city to refurbish them, and the Best Foods revolving loan fund to help restaurants get started. The loans require the restaurants to buy about 10 percent of their ingrethents from local farmers markets.
"The history part, that component is there," Schreiber said. "But we're trying to marry these other initiatives with it because they're new ideas for urban areas."
Other cities are not as far along but are working toward brand identities.
Lancaster is ready to hear proposals from companies that can help it with a brand and is leaning toward an iden- tity that revolves...