In September 2012, Buncombe County adopted a comprehensive Greenways and Trails Master Plan to guide regional greenway development in the County. On Thursday, November 5th, Friends of Connect Buncombe, a local nonprofit, introduced and bestowed a new brand identity to reflect this initiative to create trails and greenways in Buncombe County and its municipalities which can come to represent the entire system while preserving the greenway/trail names of individual municipalities and communities. This new identity can be expanded and shared to serve as a creative vision for a connected system of trails and greenways for public usage to foster and promote tourism, economic development, health, recreation, diverse and safe transportation options, and connect with our community and the cultural heritage and natural beauty of Buncombe County.
The branding process included a broad based input effort. Over the summer, geographic and thematic input meetings and research into the history of Buncombe County were initiated. The brand name is an easily recognizable, concrete name and reaches to the nexus of why Asheville and Buncombe came to exist and will allow for a wide array of marketing components that will satisfy a variety of needs and desires of the county. The brand system is flexible and easy brand extension can be employed for many adaptive uses.
The new brand logo draws upon the existing Buncombe County government logo by incorporating dark blue mountains and two evergreen trees set in the foreground of a trail. The brand is named in honor of the Buncombe Turnpike which once served as one of the finest and most used roads in Western North Carolina and brought prosperity and innovation to our mountains. Branding colors are all based upon colors found in nature.
David Gantt, Chairman of the Buncombe County Commissioners, said, “This new brand system powerfully connects our past to our future and we are grateful for the leadership and support of Friends of Connect Buncombe in catalyzing our efforts. Let’s all embrace and start using the brand.”
Friends of Connect Buncombe partnered with other greenway advocacy groups and selected Arnett Muldrow and Associates to carry out the development of this new branding and marketing initiative. The costs were covered by donations from members and sponsors and by in-kind services provided by Arnett & Muldrow and Associates.
About Friends of Connect Buncombe Friends of Connect Buncombe is a nonprofit formed for the purpose of advocating and raising funds for the implementation and construction of greenways and trails in Buncombe County. We are a collaborative organization supporting all of Buncombe County. The goal is to construct a system of connected trails for public use to foster and promote tourism, economic development, health, recreation, diverse and safe transportation options, and connect with our community and cultural heritage and beauty of Buncombe County. The Greenways and Trails Master Plan was adopted by the County Commissioners in September, 2012.
Event Location and Thank You
We would like to thank all of our sponsors for helping us put together our November 5th Debut Countywide Greenway and Trail Celebration. In particular, we appreciate the support of DoubleTree by Hilton Asheville, for hosting the event and thank their staff and chefs for creating such a wonderful event.
Press Release from Friends of Connect Buncombe:
