{"id":9884,"date":"2015-02-19T07:49:00","date_gmt":"2015-02-19T12:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=9884"},"modified":"2015-03-04T22:32:59","modified_gmt":"2015-03-05T03:32:59","slug":"inside-aurora-identity-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/inside-aurora-identity-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"INSIDE AURORA: Identity Crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Scott Johnston<\/strong><\/p>\n

It seems that Aurora is experiencing an identity crisis.
\nThis observation stems from Councillor Thom\u2019s suggestion, noted in last week\u2019s Auroran, that the Town re-adopt flying its original cross of St Andrew\u2019s-based flag. It is thought that by promoting this, it will bring people closer to the Town and its history.
\nActually, this is not the first time Aurora has demonstrated some degree of self-consciousness about its image.
\nSeveral years ago, it was thought that we needed a tagline. After much careful thought, we almost ended up with \u201cOur Town, Your Future\u201d.
\nSounds nice, but someone pointed out that it was basically the same as East Gwillimbury\u2019s existing motto of \u201cOur Town, Our Future.\u201d Maybe they hoped no one would venture north of Green Lane and notice the similarity.
\nBut they did, so no doubt after discounting other original ideas like \u201cThe Big Appel\u201d, \u201cHawgtown\u201d and \u201cThe City of Lite\u201d, eventually we settled on \u201cYou\u2019re in Good Company.\u201d Whether that was the best choice, or whether kids can say it without snickering, is a debate for another day.
\nBut I think that what we should have to better promote our Town is not a flag, a crest, or a motto, but something we don\u2019t have; a mascot.
\nOne need go no further than our own local sports team to see how successful a mascot can be. Everyone across Canada associates our hockey team with the tiger, so there\u2019s no reason to think this wouldn\u2019t work equally well for our Town.
\nThere is no end of ideas for something that would be appropriate for Aurora.
\nAnimals are always popular mascots. Perhaps the trumpeter swan, a local species that was helped back from the edge of extinction in the 1970s by local environmentalist Harry Lumsden, and which can still be seen around Town.
\nOr, in a nod to global warming, the opossum, whose northern range now includes Aurora, and whose presence is being felt more every year, might be a good fit.
\nIf we want to reach back into our past, we could use the Fleury plow, the production of which a hundred years ago put Aurora on the industrial map.
\nBut with our local farmland disappearing quickly under development, maybe we need something a little more contemporary than a plow.
\nThere\u2019s been much discussion and debate lately about the growing number of cell towers in Town. How about a cell tower mascot, or that perennial favourite on our roads, the construction pylon?
\nThey would both make for fairly wearable shaped costumes for appearances at special events. Certainly more so than that other obvious local infrastructure choice, the speed hump.
\nSome places have mascots that are not animals or objects, but something more whimsical.
\nOur Town is shaped by politics, and nothing says local politics more than Aurora Council, so perhaps a nod to our elected officials.
\nI\u2019m not sure exactly what they\u2019d look like, but how about a character named \u201cRobbie Report Back\u201d, \u201cPeter Procrastinator\u201d or \u201cLindsay Litigation\u201d?
\nIf the goal of this latest round of self-promotion is in part to encourage kids to become better connected to our Town, I think seeing, or even having a say in determining, a Town mascot, would be a lot more interesting to them than a 150-year-old crest on a flag.
\nJust saying.
\nAs for subject matter, the ideas I\u2019ve noted above just scratch the surface. With a Town as steeped in history as Aurora, the possibilities really are endless.
\nDo you have any suggestions? If so, I\u2019d love to hear them.<\/p>\n

Feel free to e-mail Scott at: machellscorners@gmail.com<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Scott Johnston It seems that Aurora is experiencing an identity crisis. This observation stems from Councillor Thom\u2019s suggestion, noted in last week\u2019s Auroran, that the Town re-adopt flying its original cross of St Andrew\u2019s-based flag. It is thought that by promoting this, it will bring people closer to the Town and its history. Actually, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-2zq","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-21 08:56:06","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9884\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}