What a fun job this was!  Tips & Toes had a nice looking business card, but it had become a little dated and was expensive to print.  After we priced out a variety of options, Wendy received those magical words all designers love to hear:  “Do whatever you want!”

The chartreuse card set was our first effort.  We put a high gloss on the photo side and a matte finish on the back (to make it easy to write on).  They turned out great!  Alish thought so, too.  In fact, she liked them so well, she decided to use them for nail appointments and cut us loose to design a complementary set for hair.  How fun!

Cooperative marketing is brilliant.

Take the Northwest Carriage Museum and the Willapa Seaport Museum.  Here, we have two amazing small museums, both created on grants, passion and courage, and both operated wisely–and close to the bone. They are neighbors, situated across the street from one another, and both have creative, dynamic, smart directors.

No one should have been surprised they would leverage their budgets and combine their talents to produce a brochure with more impact than either of them could have achieved alone.  See?  BRILLIANT.

It can be complicated to combine forces in this way, and shouldn’t be entered into blindly.  Styles and preferences are, more likely than not, disparate.  Branding can be diluted.  The time involved in agreeing on everything from concept to details can be maddening.

Had Keleigh and Amy not worked together before, there might have been trepidation.  After all, we beachdogs weren’t agreeing to find a strong balance point between two museums and their independent-minded directors, a balance that would BENEFIT all concerned as well as PLEASE them.  Each of these women had Boards to report to, others to consult at many points in the process.  That’s a lot of cooks in the kitchen.

Not with this team!  Amy Dennis and Pam Darrah are both consummate professionals.  Not only were they each a joy to work with, their combined energy brought so much more to the project than could have been generated without them.  We’re all pleased with the result of the effort and the proof will come as distribution takes place and museum visitation increases.  Stop by one of our local visitor centers to pick up a copy of their brochure or, better still, spend a day at the museums.  You’ll be glad you did.

I just love living here in teeny tiny town.  It is literally and figuratively the beach of my childhood.  I’ve talked with people about this 30 years older and 30 years younger than myself and all seem to agree that the spirit of the place hasn’t changed over time.  Okay, so those pre-teens 30 years younger don’t really know what they’re talking about yet, but still!

This weekend offers up a slice of that magic for locals and visitors alike.  Holidays at the Beach is a weekend of family fun co-sponsored by the City of Long Beach and the Long Beach Merchants Association and we’re blessed to work with both organizations.  The rack card we did for this year’s event is shown to the left.

Organizers Ragan Andrew and Steven Linhart took over the reins a few years ago and have really injected new energy into a 3-day series of events. I love their “ticket” idea; we perforated the rack card to include a tear-off ticket to the Friday night event.  Kids get to keep the weekend’s schedule (to which they attach ribbons, bells and the like) and the theater gets a ticket so they can track participation.  Well done, team!

Keith and I going to meet the two newest members of our family in California over Thanksgiving, so we’ll miss my favorite part of the holiday season here in Long Beach: the tree lighting and caroling.  The good news is that we’ll be back in time for Ilwaco’s “World’s Largest Crab Pot Christmas Tree” lighting and Boat Parade and also for Ocean Park’s tree lighting and cookie decorating party.  There’s also the Peninsula Player’s Christmas Play, PAPA’s Fiddler on the Roof, the Boys & Girls Club’s Holiday Home Tour, the B&B Association’s Open House and Tuba Christmas.  Staff parties!  Friend Gatherings!  Cookie Baking!  Present Wrapping! Whee!  I LOVE this place and this time of year!

Happy Thanksgiving to each of you.  May your holiday, and your year, be blessed.  :: Keleigh

Of course we’re biased.  Keleigh’s on the Board of the Long Beach Merchants Association (LBMA) this year.  But our affection for the organization goes back to early exposure to their good works.  This small but mighty group of volunteers pays dues annually for the privilege of pushing up their sleeves to produce some of the best-known events in the state of Washington.

Ruth Ann Hocking has been producing music festivals longer than some LBMA members have been walking.  Her newest effort, the Long Beach Bluegrass Festival, went from zero to sixty in a short number of years and is already a top event in the Bluegrass world.  Way to go, Ruth Ann!

Jane Holeman and the rest of the mighty gang producing the Washington State International Kite Festival for nearly three decades, deserve platinum honors for putting on a week of colorful fun that really must be experienced to fully appreciate.

SandSations, the annual sand sculpture competition held in July, has a huge fan following, as does one of the newest events (for one of our oldest residents), Jake the Alligator Man’s Birthday Party.  We posted about Holidays at the Beach the other day and could ramble endlessly about the Beach to Chowder Run, Doggie Olympic Games, SummerFest… there are so many!

It was a pleasure to redesign their membership brochure as a pro-bono project this fall.  If you’re a merchant in the region, or just want to support their good works, click over to their site and send them some love.  ….or some dues!

A testament to both home schooling and the Boy Scouts (and some mighty fine parenting and mentoring along the way, no doubt), David Craft is a young man of which our community can be proud.

We had the pleasure of meeting David while he was working on his Eagle Scout project, a wonderful booklet for children of all ages visiting the Peninsula.  David designed and developed the booklet, as well as created the activities found within.  He worked with local artist Don Nisbett to create cover and interior illustrations AND raised funds to print 1000 copies for distribution by our local Visitors Bureau.  You can download your own copy here.

Thanks, David, for becoming the kind of young man we like to see in our community!