Tower’s new logo draws much attention

The wait is over for all of those people who wanted to see new artwork and text appear again on Madison Village’s water tower.

During the weekend of Nov. 7 and 8, a blue and green emblem with white lettering touting the phrase, “Grand River Valley — Ohio’s Wine Country” was painted on the tank of the tower, which is located just north of the Interstate 90 and Route 528 interchange.

With the eye-catching insignia occupying a spot on the south side of the tower’s tank, it marked the end of a nearly two-year stretch during which the peak of the 128-foot tall structure was covered either partially or completely with a white coat of paint.

The new logo, which will serve as a brand and shared identity for the Grand River Valley wine region, was created through a project spearheaded by the executive directors of the Lake County Visitors Bureau and Ashtabula County Visitors Bureau.

Lake County Visitors Bureau Executive Director Neil Stein got his first look at the logo on Nov. 9, while driving on Interstate 90.

Stein said it was “extremely satisfying” to see it, considering the history of the tower and the cooperative approach taken to come up with an insignia for the top of the structure.

“My goal with this project was to make sure whatever we chose for the logo or design on the tower was going to be something that had input from all the stakeholders in the Grand River Valley and would help brand this unique region not only for our residents, but also for those visiting the GRV from outside our area,” he said.

After Stein was appointed as executive director of the visitors bureau in 2019, he became the newest member of a group called the Grand River Valley Branding Initiative Committee.

The panel also includes Ashtabula County Visitors Bureau Executive Director Stephanie Siegel; winery and distillery owners in the Grand River Valley; the administrators of Lake and Ashtabula County governments; and representatives of Lake Metroparks, the Lake County Ohio Port and

Economic Development Authority; and Ashtabula County Port Authority.

“With significant contributions from Cindy Lindberg from Grand River Cellars and Eddy Eckart with Red e Vodka, and the entire Grand River Branding Initiative Committee, we worked with North Star Place Branding to take the first step in branding the area,” Stein said.

Based in Nashville, Tennessee, North Star specializes in branding and marketing communities, regions and states to increase tourism, bolster economic development, and achieve other specific goals.

Committee members worked with North Star’s specialists to create “a visual icon that was representative of (the Grand River Valley) and could easily be adopted by businesses of every kind,” Siegel noted.

“(The logo) also needed to stand out in the national marketplace, since we have put our stake in the ground as Ohio’s Wine Country,” she said.

To achieve this, a design was created “using a distinctive shape with elements suggesting rolling vineyards and flowing water,” a news release from the Lake County Visitors Bureau stated. “A vibrant color palette is inspired by grapes, wine, leaves, water and sky.”

The painting of this logo on the 92-year-old tower marked the conclusion of a quest to give the structure a new appearance and purpose.

In the late 1980s, a carousel mural was painted onto the tank of the tower, helping the structure to gain a reputation as an iconic landmark. However, by 2013, the tower had deteriorated to the point where it was disconnected from the village’s water system.

The tower then went through phases during which it was slated for demolition and then spared, thanks to an ambitious fundraising campaign and three-phase restoration plan for the structure. In fact, the revitalization proposed in 2018 led to the creation of a logo — different from the current emblem — that ended up never gracing the tower’s tank.

Clearly, there have been a lot of twists and turns on the road to sprucing up the exterior of the tower’s tank.

But at last, a new logo is adorning the structure that has dominated the Madison Village skyline for so many years. This endeavor took a while to become a reality, but we believe it was worth the wait.

But at last, a new logo is adorning the structure that has dominated the Madison Village skyline for so many years.