Missouri Deemed 'Great Rivers State'

Missouri has a new state slogan: “The Great Rivers State." The efforts were led by The Missouri Stream Team Watershed Coalition to highlight the state's river resources to citizens and tourists.

Missouri includes the mighty Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, plus a total of 110,000 miles of floatable waterways.

To show pride in the new state slogan, Missouri residents can purchase a speciality license plate. To get one, click here or contact stacy.arnold@deercreekalliance.org for further assistance.

These personalized plates are $40 for one year or $65 for two years. The costs covers both specialty plate fees with the Department of Revenue and a $25 per year tax-deductible donation to Missouri Stream Team Watershed Coalition.

Open Space Council Executive Director Ron Coleman already reserved the license plate "OCS - ST5" in honor of Operation Clean Stream, which is Stream Team No. 5.

Before ordering a new plate, drivers need the following:

1. Current license plate number
2. Year, make and model of vehicle
3. VIN (Vehicle Identification Number)
4. Ideas for what combination of letters and numbers desired for plate. Personalized license plate numbers may consist of no more than six characters, or five characters plus a dash, a space, or an apostrophe.
5. Three-digit number code of the license office where you will pick up your plates.

, several commenters, such as , indicated it seemed like "change simply for the sake of change."

Other readers, such as indicated he never really liked the "Show Me" statement on Missouri's license plates. "It sounds more like a challenge than an invitation. Doesn't work well when trying to promote tourism to Missouri. If a new slogan (not sure I like the new on either) could help tourism increase, that would then increase revenue in the state by bringing in those visitors. So, in effect, they would be indirectly working on employement and budget issues," he posted.

On the other hand, reader stated:  "There is NOTHING wrong with the name of our state. I am 60 yrs. old and it is what it is."

offered:  "'The Show Me State' is a unique and interesting slogan. While I love Missouri's rivers, 'The Great Rivers State' sounds much more generic and forgettable, like it was created by a focus group. U. City just wasted money coming up with a "new" slogan and logo (really just the old logo with new colors that have nothing to do with the city and look like everyone else's), when we should've been using that money for something more worthwhile. I hate to see our state make the same mistake my city just made."

"Since St. Louis is 'The Gateway to the West' with the Gateway Arch," posted , "Why not have 'The Gateway to America' or 'The Gateway to the World' or 'The Gateway State' as the new slogan for the State of Missouri?"

The Patch article reflects a total of 27 comments. What's your reaction to the adoption of the new slogan?