No decision on official Dewey tagline

The task of selecting a town tagline returns to the Dewey Beach Marketing Committee after commissioners said at an April 21 meeting that they did not want to make a privately owned slogan the town’s official motto. 

On April 4, the marketing committee voted to recommend eight possible taglines, and the decades-old unofficial slogan Dewey Beach – A Way of Life, that were submitted during a naming contest that launched in February and closed March 14.

At that meeting, committee Chair Alex Csedrik said at least 40 people who entered the contest stated they wanted to keep the unofficial tagline, which was trademarked by resident Harry Wilson decades ago for his own business. The tagline also topped the favored list of submissions chosen by committee members.

Harry’s son Jason told the committee the town is welcome to use the slogan on its signs and website, but not on any revenue-generating items. Jason offered to provide the town a list of approved uses as well as a wholesale list of items the town could use to order merchandise.

At the April 21 commissioners meeting, Mayor Bill Stevens said Jason sent the town a licensing agreement if officials choose to go that route.

Commissioner Paul Bauer, liaison to the marketing committee, said 1,650 contest entries were submitted. Bauer said he reviewed submissions to find commonly occurring words that would reflect positively on the town. 

Disregarding the word “beach” because it is part of the town’s name, Bauer said the words fun, life, sun, bay, mile, memories, best, good, summer, ocean, sand and love were most commonly used in the submissions.

Bauer said he wouldn’t be opposed to kicking back those words to the marketing committee for a second look. The committee could develop its own slogan using two to three of the words most frequently used in the contest submissions, he said.

At this point, Commissioner David Jasinski said he didn’t think, as a matter of policy, the town should make something official that is privately owned by a third party. Jasinski said he would be fine if commissioners did not choose an official tagline.

Commissioner Gary Persinger said he was unsure how to proceed. If another entity was the sole wholesaler, he said, the town would be aiding another entity in making profits.

The idea is not to make money, Stevens said, but to create something uniquely Dewey. Stevens said the town initiated a tagline contest, so the award that was offered needs to be given.

“I don’t think it’s fair that people participated and didn’t receive their free parking pass,” he said.

Bauer said commissioners will select the tagline based on the committee’s recommendation and provide the award to the person who submitted the entry it most closely resembles.

The marketing committee is set to meet at 5:30 p.m., Tuesday, May 2, to discuss and possibly vote on a town tagline. The full agenda and Zoom link to the meeting are available at townofdeweybeach.com.