SNOHOMISH — Anyone with a computer and an Internet connection can peek at life in Snohomish, thanks to a new virtual video tour.
Five short videos are posted on the city’s Web site at www.ci.snohomish.wa.us. The one-minute snippets feature jaunty music and apple-pie images of Snohomish life. Locals jog down Centennial Trail, stroll in the historic district and browse at an antique shop. Children scramble over playground equipment at a park.
The videos focus on community life, schools, real estate, business and the city’s history and culture.
Mayor Randy Hamlin stands in front of City Hall in a button-up shirt and encourages viewers to make plans to visit.
A silky-voiced announcer takes over, extolling virtues of the city such as clean air, safe streets and family-friendly neighborhoods and parks.
Hamlin said he liked the idea of delivering the city’s message via video. It’s quicker and easier for many people to click on a video than to wade through text.
“Often people who are exploring a new area actively cruise the Web,” Hamlin said. “It’s becoming a more significant tool.”
The city is hoping the venture will encourage people to visit and spend.
“For us, it’s a start on marketing Snohomish,” said Debbie Emge, the city’s economic development manager.
The city is launching a marketing campaign next year to draw new businesses to commercial developments along the Bickford Avenue corridor, she said. The city also wants shoppers to remember the city’s historic downtown.
“We’ve been successful as the antique capital of the Northwest but there’s so much more to us than that,” she said.
The economic downturn has shoppers tightly clutching their pocketbooks. Businesses are reluctant to expand or move into new retail spaces at the new Snohomish Station and in other parts of town. That’s hurt the city’s ability to pay its bills since it’s heavily dependent on sales tax revenue.
The videos, produced by CGI Inc. in New York, cost the city no money to produce. The company offers its services to cities and sells ads to pay for the production.
Snohomish isn’t the only local city to take advantage of the offer. At least two other Snohomish County cities, Arlington and Everett, have their own virtual video tours produced by CGI.
The city of Everett Web page gets 150,000 hits a month, said city spokeswoman Kate Reardon. While many of those eyeballs are locals, some are people interested in a visit and others are businesses considering relocating here.
“For us, it’s a tool to communicate in words and pictures what our community is about,” she said.
Debra Smith: 425-339-3197, dsmith@heraldnet.com.
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