I recently used this column to suggest that our towns aren’t interesting enough, and that our business leaders should be more creative. Most of the readers’ emails were supportive, but one of them thought it was terrible, and that if I thought I was so smart, maybe I should come up with my own ideas (thanks, Mom).

That’s understandable. It’s much easier to be a critic than a creator, so let’s create something this week.

I can think of four features that make some towns more interesting than others:

Natural Resource

Some towns are blessed with a great recreational lake or park, waterfalls, ocean views, or hiking mountains. Our towns have only a few of those things, and I think they are already being used to their maximum capacity. We’ll skip this one for now.

Create a Landmark

For towns that don’t have a natural landmark, they might consider making their own. Giant statues are always an interesting oddity, such as the Fremont Troll in Seattle, or the dozens of 30 foot or higher Paul Bunyan statues around the country. Lots of people make the drive to see them.

Seattle’s Pigs on Parade featured 100 different pig statues placed around the city, each decorated by a different artist. Our towns could adopt a similar idea.

I would probably make a field of mushrooms, each with different artwork and most that were built low enough for kids to climb on. Maybe a Bigfoot statue could overlook the field, peeking in from the woods. You know you couldn’t leave town without having your picture taken at Bigfoot and the Mushroom Fields. It might sound dumb on paper, but that’s the kind of quirky dumbness that gets people to drive for an hour to visit.

For those towns that are too practical for quirkiness, how about creating the state’s absolute best sports facility? Many of my friends will regularly drive their kids over to eastern Washington for tournaments in softball or baseball at towns that have big enough sports fields. They spend all of their weekend and vacation money over there in restaurants, motels, and grocery stores. Our economy relies heavily on sales taxes, so let’s draw them in from other places.

I still think Maple Valley needs to make their forthcoming City Hall look like an exact replica of the “Back to the Future” town center, down to the smallest detail, even with a DeLorean smashed into the side of a building. I keep writing this and probably will until the time that they actually build it (never).

Town Theme

I mentioned this last week, since Leavenworth turned a manufactured Bavarian theme into a mega-success. Other towns such as Plymouth, Mass., and Tombstone, Ariz., have revived their histories with reenactments of their heydays.

However, no one will drive more than 10 minutes to see a old-timey coal mining operation, so we’ll have to make one up. The most successful ones I’ve seen are charming, which would include small European village knock-offs, Victorian themes, Colonial styles, or rustic pioneer looks. Nostalgic ones are also successful, such as 1950’s-era gas stations and diners, or something from a Currier and Ives print.

Just remember that you only have to make one significant section of the town in the theme; not the entire town. You can get by with 30 percent conformity, as long as they’re all clustered together.

The main advantage to a classic town theme is that it’s always in style. The stuff we’re building today is going to look old in 20 years, and we’ll simply tear it down for something better. No one is ever going to put a steel building on the list of historic places.

Own a holiday

Leavenworth owns Christmas. Carnation sort of owns July 4th locally, but there’s room for competition here. Macy’s spends many millions to associate themselves with Thanksgiving, and they do so because it’s profitable from a branding perspective.

What holiday could our towns be known for? Halloween is available, July 4th could be expanded or combined with other towns, Easter coverage is kind of spotty, and somebody could still own Christmas on this side of the mountains.

What if one of our towns committed themselves to offer the best Christmas lights decorations in Washington? Encourage homeowners to overdo it, and offer awards for best themes, best use of statues, best light display and an overall grand champion.

The local hardware or general retail stores would be more than happy to bring in large pallets full of discounted lights and hardware for installation. Landscapers who aren’t busy in the fall can switch to Christmas light installation businesses for a few months.

That’s all of the town-changing ideas I have for you this week. We’ll get back to the worthless criticisms next time.