Effort To 'Brand' Truckee Starts Tuesday

A community workshop Tuesday night in Truckee is part of an effort to create a ‘brand’ for the Sierra town and give people who live there a chance to determine what that brand will be. 

Truckee has never had a brand before. 

"We do a good job of promoting Truckee as a fun place to come and visit and play, but really, until now have not really promoted Truckee as a great place to live and work," says Truckee Donner Chamber of Commerce CEO Lynn Saunders. 

Truckee is in the Lake Tahoe basin, surrounded by forests and mountains, making it an ideal winter-summer playground for camping, fishing, hiking, skiing and mountain biking.  

Saunders says "branding" Truckee could help the town's economy grow beyond winter and summer seasonal jobs. 

"We're trying to get more businesses that are not just only recreation or weather-dependent, that perhaps pay a higher wage and will create more of a diversified, robust economy here,” says Saunders. 

Saunders says creating a brand for Truckee is part of a marketing strategy to woo people and companies to the town of 16,000 in Nevada County. According to U.S. Census Bureau, there were slightly more than 3,000 businesses in the town in 2007.

She says the "Brand Truckee" effort is part of an Economic Development Fund Program, with initial funding provided by the Truckee Town Council.

Saunders says the community workshop Tuesday is the first of three to give people who live in Truckee a voice to develop the town's brand. There is also an online survey.

The first workshop starts at 6 p.m. at the Truckee Town Hall at 10183 Truckee Airport Road.