Onaway’s brand was here all along
by Peter Jakey-Managing Editor
It was not difficult to find a brand to distinguish Onaway from other northern Michigan communities.
It’s been here for about 90 years and harkens back to a time when the Lobdell and Emery plant produced steering wheels for automobiles and bike rims.
The wheels and rims came from trees in the area and were produced by local hands at the plant. It is estimated that the plant, which covered 44 acres, was the largest wooden steering wheel manufacturer in the world in the 1920s. Some say 800 people worked there.
During that time, Marshall Whitshire coined the phrase, “Onaway Steers the World” and received $5 from the chamber of commerce for his suggestion.
That was a lot of money back then, but what value can be placed on a phrase that has endured long after fire wiped out the plant on Jan. 26, 1926.
When the current Downtown Development Authority went searching for most applicable brand for Onaway earlier this year, they needed to look no further than the city sidewalks or grocery store.
Back in January, Marilyn Kapp Moran was asked by city manager Joe Hefele to be a part of the Onaway DDA.
“We started talking about what are the top initiatives for Onaway,” she said. “What should we be working on to move the community forward?”
There was a community meeting conducted at the Industrial Arts Institute building. “We identified that we need to do branding – that was one of the top three things,” said Kapp Moran. She worked with Angie Krajniak of Sunrise Communications to take it a step further.
“The only brand for Onaway was the one they already had,” she said. “This brand has been around forever. It has not been marketed.”
Angie and Marilyn worked on modernizing the famous community slogan.
“I started thinking about all the things that wheels do for the community, such as the speedway, trails and tractor pulls.” Plus, Onaway now can claim the largest steering wheel in the world, courtesy of Moran Iron Works (MIW).
“We thought of it more as a tourism brand…because tourism will bring in new money. The fastest way to create economic development is to have a tourism product,” said Kapp Moran.
One such product is currently in the works on the site of the former plant as MIW owner/founder Tom Moran is spearheading an effort clear the land in preparation for a park where people can take a walk back in time to see the remaining ruins of the plant, as well as Moran’s famous metal sculptures coupled with a nature trail.
The centerpiece will be the giant steering wheel that debuted during the parade four weeks ago.
“Tom had decided to do that steering wheel last summer,” said Kapp Moran. “It all just came together. The design came way before we even knew that we were going to use that at as a brand. It ended up being perfect.”
Kapp Moran made a PowerPoint presentation with cartoon images (on the front page) of the brand during the community meeting at IAI. “Anybody can use it, however, they want to promote the community,” she added.
Kapp Moran envisions I-75 billboards steering visitors towards Onaway, “to see something they have never seen before, find out what Onaway’s history is, and where Onaway is going. It is not going to take a big infrastructure investment, but we could sell it better.”
Tentatively, the Morans would put every sculpture that is in the area into the park. That includes the aircraft carrier, Gerald Ford and the robot. In the future, the sculptures that appear in the parade will stay here.
“We have a number of people that do outside sculptures that want to be a part of this,” said Kapp Moran. “I am more excited about the park, anything else we have ever done. I think it could change the whole economy of Onaway. The economic portion of th
“I see go-carts and batting cages, mini putt-putt golf course, and making the complex a destination,” said Kapp Moran. She is currently working on the business plan and Tom is literally blazing the trail.
“We are plugging along on the park, but it is not on the front burner,” said Kapp Moran. “It’s what we do after we are done with work.”
Kapp Moran has confidence in the brand that has been here for about 90 years. “It has so much potential.”