Adirondack symbol gains momentum

TICONDEROGA | As brands go, the Adirondack Park has through the years been a tad nondescript. There's the standard, text-based ADK, and businesses and organizations have made logos out of loons and larches and bears, but, said Rebecca Rapple, there was no overall way to connect with other fans of the park and say, "Hey, I love the Adirondacks." Rapple had been out to change that, with an Adirondack insignia that is popping up on bumpers and flagpoles both in and out of the park. As she approaches the second anniversary of the project, Rapple said she's filled orders for 5,000 stickers and 1,000 flags. Half have gone to people in the park and half outside, including people in 37 states. Rapple aimed for a minimum of 10 percent of the proceeds goes to Adirondack causes, but in fact it's been a lot more — and the enterprise will eventually become a nonprofit supporting the environment, economic vitality and education. A management consultant with a degree from Yale, Rapple left nothing to chance when creating the design. She became involved with the North American Vexillological Association, which is devoted to the scientific and scholarly study of flags, and discovered the basics of what makes a good flag — for example, no more than three colors and no complex patterns. Rapple also wanted to get to the core of what made the Adirondacks unique and special to so many people. The three colors she chose were green, brown and yellow. Green was kind of a given, and with all the water, a good argument could have been made for blue. But Rapple went a different direction, using the brown and yellow that are familiar as the iconic sign colors that guide Adirondack motorists and hikers. The flag features three broad, horizontal stripes, two green and one yellow. The brown silhouette of the park is inset with an eastern white pine, the most common tree in the forest, done in yellow. The result has been "overwhelmingly positive," she said, although a few still lobby for a little blue, especially to represent the Blue Line that outlines the park. She tried it, but it didn't work. The most difficult part of the design was choosing from among the Adirondack's iconic images, be they bears, loons or even blackflies. But in the end, "what really makes the park different is the wilderness," Rapple said. Hence, the pine. Although she now lives in Portland, Ore., Rapple said the Adirondacks still run deep in her psyche, and she knows that's true of others. "I wanted a way to announce that connection to the world," she said. I kept waiting for someone else to do it, but no one did." So, through flags, patches, stickers and water bottles, the message of the Adirondacks will be spread, as they raise both money and awareness for the park. "It's a legacy project, because the Adirondacks has given us so much," Rapple said.

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Adirondack symbol gains momentum

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