Audrey Gomez
Sweet Home…Oregon at its Best.
That phrase adorns the city’s welcome sign and official materials for the City of Sweet Home.
But how did it become the city’s motto?
That would be a question Geraldine Hagadorn can answer.
It all started with a contest.
On April 24, 1985, The New Era posted contest information in the local briefs section: “Come up with a catchy slogan for the city of Sweet Home and you’ll be $100 richer.”
The contest was put on by the Focus on the Future Committee, a group of Sweet Home Chamber of Commerce members. Among the committee’s efforts was the task of creating an image for the town. Members of that subgroup included Marie Bradley, LaDonna Chafin, Corky Lowen, Doug Mc-Kinnis, Maxine Nightingale, and Mona Waibel.
The group met a few times while furthering their efforts and sought information from other organizations.
The winning slogan was chosen from 460 entries and almost didn’t make it into the contest. The winner was Hagadorn, now 86, who goes by Jerry. In 1985 her last name was Strasser.
The announcement of the winning entry ran June 5, 1985 under the headline “Catchy slogan chosen for Sweet Home” in the newspaper.
Hagadorn still has the article in her scrapbook.
It features a photo of her holding the $100 bill she received from the Focus on the Future Committee for coming up with the slogan: “Sweet Home—We’re Oregon At Its Best.”
She remembers what she was doing when she came up with the motto.
“I was out in my yard working on my rose garden,” Hagadorn said.
When she had her moment of inspiration, she went in the house right away to write it down, she said.
“I only sent one entry in, and I carried it in my purse for two days, she said at the time.
Hagadorn lives with her daughter Cristi Strasser in Sweet Home.
Thirty years later, she still loves Sweet Home – particularly the flowers on Main Street.
“It’s beautiful,” she said.
The idea behind the contest was to generate a slogan that could be used on postcards, brochures, buttons and T-shirts to promote tourism in east Linn County.
“They wanted the slogan to last at least 10 years,” Hagadorn said. “Well, it’s still going.”
Her daughter joked: “Didn’t you say, ‘If I’d been thinking, I’d have asked for $100 a year?’”