It wasn’t Elson Strahan, or even Mayor Tim Leavitt, wearing the brown T-shirt with the words “Vancouver, not B.C., Washington, not D.C., Clark County, not Nevada, Near Portland, Ore., not Maine” printed across the front.
Instead, it was NBC’s Jenna Wolfe, the weekend co-anchor of the “Today” show and a correspondent for the show’s weekday programming. Wolfe visited Monday for a segment on efforts to separate Vancouver from the city to the north that shares its name.
“It’s a great opportunity for us to get some national exposure,” said Kim Bennett, president of the Southwest Washington Convention & Visitors Bureau. “They’re very down-to-earth people. I think they were generally surprised at Vancouver and the hospitality we had here as well.”
Wolfe’s interviews are scheduled to appear Feb. 14 in a “Today” show segment that, however briefly, redirects the spotlight from the network’s 17-day coverage of the Winter Olympics in Canada’s Vancouver to our Vancouver.
Wolfe and a producer, who happened to be a graduate of the University of Washington, interviewed Leavitt, Vancouver National Trust President Strahan, Bennett and Hilton Vancouver Washington General Manager Gerry Link.
Strahan said he provided some history on the region during an interview focused primarily on the “fun angle of having two Vancouvers.”
He told Wolfe that Washington’s Vancouver was incorporated 30 years before British Columbia’s. That being the case, Strahan said Wolfe asked if it was “disconcerting” that the other Vancouver was getting all the attention.
His answer? No, not really.
“We’ve really focused on how it’s given us an opportunity to talk about what a wonderful place this Vancouver is,” Strahan said.
Strahan said he listened in as the newly elected mayor emphasized the economic development taking place in Vancouver.
“We both talked about the accessibility to a number of regional Northwest assets — an hour from the coast, an hour from the mountains and situated along the beautiful Columbia River,” Strahan said.
A Dec. 5 story in The New York Times, “Vancouver is talking tough to itself,” that caught “Today” show producers’ attention led to Wolfe’s visit.
Regardless of how or why the attention has come, it has — and that’s a good thing, Bennett said.
“Of course, I stressed that we were the original Vancouver,” Bennett said. “I think there was maybe some surprise there.”
After her interview concluded, Bennett said she directed Wolfe and her producer to Beaches Restaurant & Bar for a “good local lunch.”
When they arrived, “I know that they were greeted by the Beaches staff with people blowing horns,” Bennett said.
She added she was told Wolfe and her colleague were “shocked and appreciative.”
“It is different when you can come to a smaller community and get that kind of attention and that the word of mouth is spread so fast,” Bennett said. “It’s a national show.”
