KAWARTHA LAKES-On January 1, 2001 the municipalities of Victoria County were amalgamated into the City of Kawartha Lakes by order of a commissioner appointed by the Province of Ontario. The new municipality needed to create an identity for itself and one of the first steps by the new council was to create a logo. The City of Kawartha Lakes decided, that rather than hiring a creative firm to design a logo, they created a volunteer committee and hired a consultant work with City Staff to guide a public process where people could submit a logo and then local residents could vote on it. The City of Kawartha Lakes would hire Kenneth Caplan & Associates of Markham to assist with the process. Frank Kinsinger of Fenelon Falls chaired the Corporate Identity Task Force.
When the decision to create a logo for the City of Kawartha Lakes was announced, it was controversial. A large proportion of the local population opposed the creation of the new municipality, which would eventually lead to a vote on a Minister’s Question from Chris Hodgson, Minister of Municipal Affairs in 2003, where a majority voted against amalgamation—but then the Province did not act on the results. Many people who wanted to be governed by Victoria County, saw no reason to create a new logo. One local resident told council that the old logo was “a perfectly good” representation of the region. “In the top left quadrant was a ship representing our commerce and water; top right quadrant, a tree for the woodlands and forestry; bottom left quadrant, a Holstein cow for the dairy and cattle industry; and bottom right quadrant, a sheaf of wheat, representing agriculture.” Many people did not like the requirement that the logo prominently feature the name “City of Kawartha Lakes.” But the new municipality needed a logo, so the process would go ahead, not including the Victoria County Logo as a candidate. Designers were given until May 14, 2001 to submit their proposals.
“Shortly before I heard that the City of Kawartha Lakes was looking to create a logo, I had been one of the competing agencies for the job of designing the new logo as Haliburton County was rebranding itself,” Robert Van Nood remembers. “I live in West Guilford, so it was right in my own backyard. I was beaten out by Kenneth Caplan and Associates—I was a little disappointed not to get the job in my own back yard.” It was the same consultant that the City of Kawartha Lakes hired—but instead of commissioning a logo, the municipality decided to have a public contest.
“I received a call from an associate who part of the process to create the new image for the City of Kawartha Lakes. It was an interesting project, but it was to my dismay when I heard it was a contest. I always felt that contests for art were belittling to the businesses of artists who make their living that way.” 270 artists submitted a proposal. “One design came from California, another from Ireland. $5,000 is not a lot of money to have 200-300 high quality art submissions. But he convinced me to enter, and one thing he mentioned was that people in the Kawartha Lakes region like their osprey.”
At the time, many volunteers in the City of Kawartha Lakes were very interested in ensuring that osprey had habitat. Their work is reflecting in the nesting platforms found throughout the region. “I remember seeing all those osprey nests on hydro posts. I started researching osprey. When I learned that osprey are totally dependent on fresh water, I said to myself, ‘Bingo, that’s it. It’s going to be an osprey.’”
“As a brand imaging campaign, the name ‘City of Kawartha Lakes,’ is a challenge. How do you come up with something that is simplified with so many font characters to be included? So, I thought of having ‘City of’ at the top left in a smaller font, with ‘Kawartha Lakes’ more prominent. I created the font by manipulating an existing font in a graphic program. I had a lot of fond memories of fishing at my Uncle Fred’s cottage on Buckhorn Lake—so the lakes had to be represented. And I wanted to have the sun at the back of the image. A lot of the process is visualizing what the logo could be.”
“I approached another associate, John Gunning, who owned County Commercial Printers. As I was asking him to help, I told him it would only take a couple of hours. I promised him that if we won, I would split the prize with him. In all, it probably took about 4 or 5 hours.” Robert submitted the logo and hoped for the best.
“Kenneth Caplan & Associates chose my logo as one of the five that would be submitted for voting in the people’s choice contest. Then lo and behold, I got a call from the City of Kawartha Lakes asking if I would like to come down to see the winner presented.” Voting closed on June 14, and the municipality decided to announce the winner at the Council meeting on June 25, 2001.
“It was summer, and I didn’t want to leave Haliburton on a beautiful day when I was wanting to go fishing. I thought it was a waste of time, so there I was sitting in the back in my summer shorts, thinking of being on the water, not really presentable. They called out all the runners up one by one.” Each received a prize, which had been donated by Coca-Cola, the Academy Theatre, Eganridge Golf Course and The Livery Stable—which was Kinsinger’s own business.
The voting was fairly close. With 1,392 ballots cast, only 141 votes separated first and fifth place. Patti Craig of Fenelon Falls was fifth, with a logo featuring a sunshine and a tree above the lettering (Logo 2). Fourth: Les Maund’s entry included a trillium and accentuated letter ‘K’ (Logo 3). Third: Troy Lyn Staudt of Ennismore had a maple leaf on top of a diamond, with the lettering in front (Logo 4). Second: Flora McDonald of Fenelon Falls had the lettering in the foreground, with a forest and sun in the background (Logo 1).
“When they announced the second-place logo, and it was not mine, that’s when I realized that my logo had been selected. I got to walk up as the winner for about 4 or 5 hours of work. It was a very cool feeling for me, having been awarded the people’s choice, after not having the chance to do the logo for Haliburton County. When I received the ultimate award, it wasn’t about the money after all. I was just elated—I didn’t think there was a hope in hell that I would win. A people’s choice contest is a crapshoot at best. I really didn’t want go to the ceremony, they had to nudge me, but I’m glad that I did.”
“The next morning, I showed up at John’s office. His wife Wendy asked how it went, but I wanted to deliver the news to John personally. When I sat down across from him, I turned it into a lengthy story. His chin dropped when he found out that we had won.”
Council noticed that only a small proportion of local residents voted on the logos. Of approximately 72,000 residents, only 1,392 voted and 22 destroyed their ballots. The municipality’s Director of Economic Development David Amos put a positive spin on it: “Anybody can vote and the fact that 1,400 people had input in the logo is 1,400 more than if we had made the decision ourselves.” He also explained that the $5,000 prize was a very economical way of completing the project. “The logo is a piece of art, and the designer is getting paid for it. If we had gone to the private sector, we’d be looking at $40,000 to $50,000, so this is a very cost-effective process.”
Amos’ explanation that the process had been very economical, comparing the $5,000 first prize with a $40,000 to $50,000 cost of hiring a design firm to create a logo was repeated in the press. But this explanation neglected to mention that a design firm—Kenneth Caplan and Associates had in fact been hired to assist with the process. As Amos sought to present the process as community-driven and very economical, the significant role that Kenneth Caplan and Associates played in developing the logo was written out of the story. Even twenty-four years later, when the City of Kawartha Lakes was contacted for this story, it did not acknowledge Caplan’s role in the process. Curiously, when a specific request was made to the City of Kawartha Lakes for the documents relating to Caplan’s participation, nothing could be found. How is it possible for a municipality to hire a consultant without retaining any written documentation?
Kenneth Caplan explained that his company was retained to develop a new brand image: “We led a process that involved a community design competition and assisted a committee in determining the winning selection. We developed graphic standards for the brand and prepared a comprehensive user’s manual that included instructions for reproduction and applications including corporate stationery, fleet vehicle graphics, signage and other aspects of municipal identification. We carried the program forward with of tourism advertisements that featured the theme ‘Discover Yourself in Kawartha Lakes’.” Caplan explained this company also created the slogan “Catch the Kawartha Spirit,” which council would officially adopt on August 13, 2001. Caplan also helped to develop the Economic Development Department newsletter.
Once the logo was chosen, some controversy remained. Some local graphic designers were offended that they were not hired to create a logo. Some critics suggested that the osprey looked like clip art. Others wondered what kind of bird is that? Margaret Cunningham, who worked in the City’s Economic Development Department for many years recalled, “there were mixed reactions to the new graphic. The sense was it was busy trying to say too much at a glance. This prompted much discussion in the beginning. But once people saw it enlarged on a sign, many thought it looked somewhat impressive.” Catch the Kawartha Spirit also met with mixed reactions—some asked ‘Why put religion into the logo?’ Those who had created it, had not intended any religious reference at all.
After the city adopted the logo, it was found to be difficult to reproduce on t-shirts. One marketing professional subsequently retained by the City of Kawartha Lakes commented that it “was met with a great deal of complaints by suppliers of print, digital, sign, and tactile media. It was not consistent with professional graphic design practices or media standards. … Many qualified graphic design suppliers in the region were dumbfounded and angered by the process that excluded their experience. I could not believe that a branding professional would recommend the use of such a poorly conceived and executed logo.” But the logo was the people’s choice, and it was given the chance.
In 2021 the municipality revamped the logo and adopted a new slogan, “Jump In.” Many of the changes were simplifications to make it easier or more economical to reproduce, particularly in black and white, these included: the sun, which was originally a colour gradient became a solid a colour; the lettering ‘Kawartha Lakes’ no longer overlaps the sun; the osprey is moved to be fully inside the sun; and the reflection in the water is removed. ‘Kawartha’ is now placed entirely outside circle representing the sun, with ‘Lakes’ inside the circle, “allowing the distinction between the ‘Kawarthas’ and ‘Kawartha Lakes’ to shine through.”
Reflecting on the changes, Robert says: “All logos have gone through their modernizations. Things grow and evolve—I totally understand that. It’s great to know that they have morphed it into something else. Now it seems like the circle represents the sun and moon—with the colours it really looks like the osprey is flying in front of the moon. The font looks much more like a common word processing font.” The City explains that the changes in the font were to make it “lighter, cleaner and easier to read for people with visual disabilities and people of all ages.”
When asked what he would have done if he was updating his own logo, Robert explains: “The thing that I really like about the original logo was the colours—especially with the gradient of orange to red on the sun. I thought it was nice to have the Osprey silhouetted against it. Looking back on the logo, if I was updating it, I would get rid of the waves under the osprey. But at the time it was important to me to have the reflection of water there. Artists can be their own worst critics. Even though the logo has gone through an evolution, the essence of the original logo is still there. The one for Haliburton County that I had really wanted to create, but missed out on, has since been replaced.”
One of the things that Robert found difficult about the original parameters of the contest was the large number of characters that had to be included, and in the new logo “City of” has been dropped. Margaret reflects that “giving the municipality a trade name is an important step. It’s a shame we didn’t get to that from the beginning. It might have avoided some of the conflict that occurred.”
When it first came out in 2001, the City of Kawartha Lakes logo was controversial—to many people it became emblematic of the common reservations about the structure of government. The root of much of the controversy may have had nothing to do with the design of the logo at all. If they had been given the choice, many people may have chosen to keep the old Victoria County coat of arms. Any artistic design will have its appreciators and detractors—this logo is no exception.
But in the years that have passed since then, the logo has come to represent the municipality, and has become and enduring symbol for the region and its government. Today, when people see the osprey in front of the sun (or moon) they think of their municipal government. Over the years it is an image that has grown to have a very different meaning than when Robert Van Nood first imagined it twenty-four years ago. In 2024, the City of Kawartha Lakes decided to adopt the osprey as its official bird, meaning that the concept will probably endure for the foreseeable future. It has become an important part of the identity and branding of the City of Kawartha Lakes. The municipal manager of communications, Cheri Davidson remarks, that its “connection to our history, natural environment and community ensures the logo remains a meaningful symbol of who we are and where we’re headed.”
This story is a memory and nobody’s memory is perfect. Sometimes details get a little mixed up, things get forgotten or overlooked, and the perspective is inevitably subjective. If you notice something that not right, have something you would like to tell us, or a memory to share the museum would be happy to hear from you: [email protected]
This story is part of our partnership with Maryboro Lodge, The Fenelon Falls Museum and was written by Glenn Walker.
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