This has to be one of the lamest Cafe Press T-shirts I have ever seen.
It says: “Happiness is being in Northeast Salem, OR.
Love the message, hate the medium.
Does anyone know someone in town who would be intersted in working with me to develop a better Salem t-shirt than the lame-o Salem T’s that can be found on CafePress.com?
Ha, I’m incredibly amused by the “Kiss Me, I’m from Northeast Salem, Oregon” T-shirt. I didn’t realize the internet was so passionate about NE Salem!
A movement is afoot, apparently. I just wish people were as passionate about making the t-shirts worth wearing. If I’m going to have someone looking at my chest, there had better be something interesting there. Graphically speaking, you cheeky monkeys.
“Salem, Oregon: the one without the witch hunts!”
Okay, maybe not.
I’d volunteer to help, but you probably already found my sorry little eatsalem cafepress shop . . .
(did that sound pitiful enough?)
No, I didn’t see those. I’m talking about the ones that just have black lettering on a white T-shirt and a generic phrase that could be about any old town. I think maybe the problem is that Salem doesn’t have a good single landmark that is cool enough to carry a t-shirt? or does it?
Whew!
That’s what I thought, too – no single landmark that pops into my head. Back when there were orchards surrounding the area, I hear people used to refer to Salem as Cherry City. That’s what inspired this image – http://tinyurl.com/debe8z
The link’s not showing up… My mother in law works for a center for sustainable and said that the original cherry trees in salem were propagated from ones in Iowa.
I’m still thinking of an image. Will work on it.
In the good old days there were many cherry orchards around Salem, and plum orchards too (to make prunes). The cherry orchards are mostly gone, but we still do some cherry processing out by the State Fair. In fact I think a good bit of the nation’s supply of maraschino cherries comes from there. Learn more at the Oregon Encyclopedia: .
As for a T-shirt slogan, how about:
SALEM – Great electric billboards and no smelly chickens
or
SALEM – Somewhat better than Keizer
This is the shop for KandN… http://shop.cafepress.com/eatsalem
The lips are my favorite but the cherries are cool too. She did a cherry one (can’t find it) with Salem, OR instead of Eat Salem.
I think some gold pioneer shirts could be funny with think black bubbly 80′s writing. Or maybe something about Salem’s old name Chameketa like “Chemeketa means peace”.
I do wish Salem were still the Cherry City…
Most cities do not have reasonable land-marks but they still are able to put together a reasonable graphic for their city.
It takes a little excitement for the city itself to start think of it grahically or sloganly. We faced that challenge when creating Stereo Salem’s first cover. But all it takes is a little oomph.
Also, Salem still uses the name Cherry City all the time. That’s why the busses are called Cherriots, and the music fest is called Cherry City Music Fest. (Also why my derby team is called Cherry City Derby Girls)
But it does’t have to be that…how about just an image of some classic downtown buildings, or the cherry blossom tree.
Culture Shock is going to be creating a series of Pro-Salem shirts this year, btw.
I’m not convinced that Salem still is the Cherry City. The area stopped being a center for cherry production in the early 20th century (sadly). So anything else is either a reference to the Cherry trees near the capitol. I love the idea of a cherry city, I’m just not feeling the connection, beyond the things Ryan is mentioning that have appropriated the cherry city moniker.
In short, I want some cherries. Stain my fingers, sticky on my lips cherries. And I want them here in Salem.
The wait for the quintessential Salem T continues…
Many city nicknames are throw backs to something of the past as opposed to an current identifiable current. I have no immediate examples without a little research but I still think that our Cherry City moniker is safe