A lot of people have negative comments about Aberdeen, so here’s a chance for people to point out what they like about the city.
Correction: love.
The Downtown Aberdeen Association (DAA) is hosting a contest for people where they write a few sentences that show why they love Aberdeen.
“Put your name, phone number and email address on the entry form and place in buckets in participating businesses,” the Downtown Aberdeen Association’s Facebook post states.
The contest starts Thursday and ends at 4 p.m. on Feb. 13. There is no entry fee.
Rick Moyer, of Moyer Multi Media LLC., who also helps DAA, came up with the idea for the contest.
“We were sitting around at the DAA meeting and they were asking for ideas we could do to get people to participate in coming downtown and going into the businesses, stuff like that,” Moyer said. “I had an idea and I thought, ‘you know what? We hear so many negative things all the time about the Harbor, about Aberdeen. It’d be nice to hear what people love about Aberdeen.’”
Moyer’s idea was to do a contest where people can drop off an entry form with a few sentences about what they love about Aberdeen at participating businesses. The participating businesses include Rancho Alegre Meat & Produce — 109 S. Broadway St., Harbor Blooms — 118 E. Heron St., Oh My Donuts — 212 S. L St., Grand Heron — 200 E. Heron St., Tinderbox Coffee Roasters — 113 E. Wishkah St., and The Market Place — 101 N. Broadway St.
According to Moyer, you can provide multiple entries and drop one off at each of the participating businesses in order to increase your odds of winning a prize. DAA would like people to try to print legibly so they can read everyone’s comments.
Note: By entering the contest, you agree to have your entry published on social media and on broadcast media, according to the post.
The prizes are:
$200 gift card at Rediviva Restaurant — 118 E. Wishkah St.
$50 gift certificate at Harbor Blooms
$20 gift card for Moonstruck Chocolate Co. from Waugh’s Men’s and Women’s Apparel — 110 E. Heron St.
Why does Moyer love Aberdeen so much?
“I really like the hometown feel of Aberdeen,” Moyer said. “When I’m looking for a certain product or a certain service, the people here are so much different than in big cities. You get customer service and they follow through with stuff. I feel a lot more comfortable shopping local than I do going out of town, which is great.”
Moyer added how he loves “the willingness of the people to help.”
Moyer added a personal story that showed the town’s generosity. Several years ago, he and his wife Amy were facing a problem with their house.
“There was a time when Amy and I needed a roof for our house and we didn’t even ask for anything,” Moyer said. “A bunch of people from the Harbor gathered together and paid for our roof. What is that? That’s just … you wouldn’t do that in a big town. But in Aberdeen, they paid for our roof. I was like ‘what are you doing?’ We didn’t ask for that. Somebody else organized it and did a fundraiser and all sorts of people participated. Rancho Alegre even did a fundraiser for us during that time.”
Bette Worth and Bobbi McCracken also talked about how DAA’s goal is to promote the downtown Aberdeen, from big events such as Summerfest, Spooktacular and Winterfest, to smaller events such as “Why do you love Aberdeen?”
“We always want to support the local businesses,” McCracken said. “So, we don’t ask them to donate the gift cards, the candy or the flowers. We pay for that. Our whole premise is to support businesses and not ask for free stuff. I know how often they get hit up and they’re generous, but we don’t want to do that.”
As for this contest, the future social media posts are to spread the positivity about Aberdeen farther.
So what do Bobbi and Bette love about Aberdeen?
“What I love about Aberdeen,” McCracken said. “Obviously I’m a Northwest girl. So (while) spending the winters in Arizona was fun, but coming home, the first mountain you come across and you see green trees, it’s like ‘Ah I’m home.’ And I get into Aberdeen and it’s all green and beautiful and there’s a lot of water and there’s a lot of things you can do here. But the main thing I love about Aberdeen is the community, the people, and how they come together whenever there’s (an event) like Relay for Life, or something like that. Somebody broke their leg and isn’t going to be able to work for a while and all of a sudden there’s a food chain. People care here. And that’s what I love about Aberdeen.”
Worth loves how helpful people are.
“The generosity of the people in this community,” Worth said. “We have a stigma that it’s a low income area. That may be, it may be a problem, but when something happens, people are willing to dig deep into their pocket and help someone out. And there are just some wonderful, wonderful people here. It’s a great place to live.”
Love of his life
What’s also special about the city as far as Moyer’s concerned? He met the love of his life, Amy, here. So why move?
“Amy and I met at (Grays Harbor) College,” Moyer said. “I asked to marry her at ‘The Hub’, at the college. … Actually I met her before that, but then I pursued her, and then one day I asked her to marry me. … It’s gonna be 38 years coming up. She’s great. I got the best part of the deal.”
Stay tuned for more DAA events and follow their Facebook page “Downtown Aberdeen Association 98520.” Discussions have already started for an event on St. Patrick’s Day.
Contact Reporter Matthew N. Wells at matthew.wells@thedailyworld.com.
