Bennett: A brief history of marketing in Petaluma

The big hoo ha around town these days is the news that Harper’s Bazaar named Petaluma the number one tourist destination this fall, ranking above such noted spots as Paris, Miami, and Philadelphia, and such obscure out of the way places as Marfa, Texas and Dolores, Colo.

It is good to note that most people of the Petaluman persuasion are not taking this news all too seriously. As well, there must have been a bit of tongue-in-cheekiness in Harper’s bizarre implication that the world’s travelers might snub Paris this fall in favor of our favorite home town.

And, our exhilaration is somewhat dampened by the fact that the entirety of the text about Petaluma in that article had to do with McEvoy Ranch, west of town and across the county line in Marin. But, gather ye plaudits while ye may, appreciating that some writer, somewhere in the vast reaches of this country, knew enough about our town to feature it in a leading magazine.

In fact, there are some nuggets of truth to be mined from this incident. The first is that three or so decades ago there would have been no way Petaluma would have been on any top 10 list as a place to visit. In the ‘70s, we were a pretty drab town still trying to recover the collapse of the local egg industry, and struggling not to become a stagnant bedroom community.

Then, change began to happen. People like Skip Sommer, with the old Petaluma Mill, and Jeff Harriman, with the two McNear buildings, showed the community that those dreary coats of mustard colored paint and tarnished tin covered some stunning architectural beauty. By the early ‘80s Petaluma was enjoying a renaissance, which was fine. The problem was, nobody knew about it.

As the decade began, there were zero efforts to market this town to the outside world. There were zero brochures, fact sheets, anything at the local chamber to interest potential visitors. There was no “points of interest” literature to help visitors if they did arrive. Then, forces within the Petaluma Area Chamber of Commerce started to advocate for some tourism marketing efforts.

Those efforts enjoyed a reception marked by coolness and caution. Petaluma has always been a frugal town, and tourism marketing meant money, and a couple of years went by with no progress. Then, the chamber held a retreat for all interested members at Bodega Bay to discuss and plan future stuff. It was one of these events where various ideas being advocated were posted on a big backdrop, and participants put dinky green dots next to the ideas they favored.

The idea to market tourism had more dinky green dots than any other notion. Petaluma’s march to national fame can be traced to that momentous event. But, it was still slow going. First, there was the need for a “committee” to plan things out, and the belief by chamber management that the proposal would go nowhere because “we simply don’t have the money.”

However, as luck would have it, one member of the committee happened to be a member of the city council, and as the group ended a winter’s worth of discussion and debate, he shared the secret that the city had a little pot of money called TOT which was actually intended for just such a use. TOT stands for Transient Occupancy Tax, and it is an add-on to hotel/motel bills.

Ultimately, the city agreed to fund the program through the chamber, and promoter Lyndi Brown was hired to put Petaluma back on the map. Within months, Petaluma was featured in Sunset magazine, focusing on the city’s historic downtown. Articles appeared in nationwide newspapers. Local walking tours and driving tours were created. A visitor center was opened to help travelers. Brown left after seven years, but others carried on the work, as each piece of national recognition seemed to generate another. It was a matter of one publication, in recognizing Petaluma was signaling to others: “Hey, pay attention. Here is something worth looking at.”

And other publications did pay attention. And they do.

A few years back the city cut the funding for marketing Petaluma, just providing funds to support visitor services. Perhaps it’s time to rethink that move.

(Don Bennett, business writer and consultant, has been involved with city planning issues since the 1970s. His email address is dcbenn@aol.com.)