Olympia – An All America City

I’ve been asked by newcomers to Olympia, if the signs greeting them when they enter the city are Olympia’s slogan. You would really have to slow down and take a closer look to see that these welcome signs have a date on them and do not say “All American”, like many people believe, but “All America”.

The title “All-America City” is an award given annually to ten US cities by The National Civic League, to recognize communities for outstanding civic accomplishments. To win, each city must demonstrate innovation, inclusiveness, civic engagement, and cross sector collaboration. http://www.allamericacityaward.com/about/

Olympia has received the award for the year 1986 to 1987, and has marked this honor with signs located along major city boundary routes. Many people think that the slogan “An All America City” is Olympia’s tag line, or nick name, like “The Windy City” for Chicago, “The Big Apple” for New York, or “The City of Roses” for Portland.

“An All America City” just doesn’t conjure a clear image for me, and I wish Olympia had a tag line that embodies its unique essence. If Seattle can be the Emerald City, surely Olympia can do better than “All America”. How about Olympia – Crown Jewel of Puget Sound… or Olympia – Organic City… or Olympia – It’s the Water… ? You get the idea. Let’s give Olympia some identity.

Any suggestions?

 

Paint the Town Pink for Girls Night Out

The Olympia Downtown Association organizes a Girls Night Out event each year in May. This year was the first time I attended, and it was a ton of fun.

 

Here’s how it works. Participants reserve a pink shopping bag in advance at one of several predetermined locations. Bags can also be bought on the day of the event, but only a limited number of bags are available and the price jumps from $10.00 a bag to $15.00 if you don’t reserve in advance.

The bag contains coupons, gift certificates and treats from participating vendors, along with a pink admittance bracelet for the bag holder. Participating businesses are identified by pink balloons out front and stay open until 8:00 p.m.

Armed with a map and coupons, the shoppers go on their merry way to visit the downtown stores. For every $10.00 they spend in a participating business, the shoppers receive one raffle ticket. Here is where the pink bracelet comes in handy, because it helps the cashiers to remember to give out the tickets. Between the bargains, the appetizers and attractions, it’s really easy for the shoppers to forget about the raffle tickets.

Many shoppers come with their sisters, friends, or co-workers and schedule in a dinner break at a downtown restaurant.

The crowning event is a gala, which took place this year at the ballroom above the Urban Onion restaurant. The shoppers gather there at the end of the day to enjoy live music, drinks and appetizers, and to see if they won any of the fabulous raffle prizes donated by the participating downtown businesses.

Girls Night Out is a fun reason for women shoppers to come into downtown, and boosts downtown business sales by tens of thousand of dollars. What makes the event so special is that part of the proceeds benefit a local cause. This year the money went to the Olympia Graffiti Abatement Program.

       

It’s a win-win situation for the happy shoppers, for downtown businesses and for the improvement of downtown Olympia. I only wish this event could be put on more often than once a year. Anyone interested in attending next year’s event, get out your calendar and mark the date for Thursday, the 5th of May 2011.

See more photos of Olympia’s 2010 Girls Night Out at http://www.olympiauncovered.com/events-and-people.html

 

Olympia Ranks Top Tier

The national recognition is starting to pile up for Olympia, the unpretentious capitol city of Washington. The latest recognition came from the American Public Transportation Association, which awarded Olympia with the prize for best transit system for its size in the nation. This came on top of Olympia’s ranking by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Magazine as the sixth Best City in the Nation. In 2008 Forbes ranked Olympia #8 on their Best Places for Business and Careers list. Olympia’s Evergreen State College is listed among the “best Buy Schools” in the 2010 edition of the Fiske Guide to Colleges, and Readers Digest has named Olympia’s annual Procession of the Species as the top of its “can’t resist” parades and processions list. The most significant nod comes from Sperling’s Best Places to Live, which ranked Olympia as the safest mid sized city in the nation, not just once, but these past two years in a row. I’d like to award Olympia with my own personal recognition, naming it the most beautiful mid sized city in the nation. What other city can compete with this?

 

 

 

Tader Joe’s is coming to Olympia

FINALLY!

“The Olympian” made it official on Tuesday: Trader Joe’s plans to open a store on the West Side (read article here)They’re looking to move into the empty “The Good Guys” store. I hope my earlier blog last June  and email campaign call http://activerain.com/blogsview/551009/Trader-Joes-in-Olympia  had something to do to convince the Trader execs that the demand is strong in Olympia.

The new store will be near two of my other favorite stores in Olympia: “Barnes and Nobles” and “World Market”, and will be less than 2 minutes from my real estate office.

While I’m happy that Olympia gets a store that carries interesting products at great prices, I’m also happy, that in times of stores closing their doors, this one will open its doors to shoppers as well as the local work force.

 

Sandy Nelson
Olympia Realtor®, Associate Broker, GRI, ASP, Built Green
360-789-7505
www.SandyNelsonRealEstate.com