The Crayola Factory in Easton, PA used to give out bracelets to visitors as they entered. To save money, they started giving out stickers instead, which makes sense.
What happened, however, is that one customer left the factory and realized they were wearing a sticker they no longer wanted or needed. So, instead of throwing it out, they decided to stick it on a nearby garbage can in front of neighboring stores. What one customer started, thousands of subsequent visitors followed up on. Today, stickers cover many of the garbage cans, parking meters, traffic signs, and even the columns in front of Easton's City Hall.
Who can blame a kid for wanting to save their sticker to add to the collection of hundreds, if not thousands, of stickers outside of the Crayola Factory? Once the large number of stickers are in place, putting a sticker up is not defacing property — it's adding to the community "art."
Some city leaders were bothered enough to tell Crayola to do something about the problem. Easton Councilman Carole Heffley complained about the stickers in a March city council meeting, and later that month, an Easton representative spoke with a Crayola representative about the problem. Crayola committed to placing large sticker boards near the exits so that visitors could have an acceptable place to put their stickers before they left.
Despite Crayola's attempts to help out, Easton council President Sandra Vulcano still wasn't happy. She wants Crayola employees to clear the stickers from the public areas and pay two employees to walk the surrounding area and police any children who might look like they are about to place a sticker on public property. As if these demands weren't enough, the city of Easton already has a 5% City of Easton Admissions Tax that is added to the cost to enter the Crayola Factory:
An admissions tax of 5% is due on a quarterly basis for all admissions collected in the City of Easton. In addition a $50 permit is required for year round establishments and a $25 permit for temporary venues. — Easton's official website
Perhaps the City of Easton should start ticketing small children and charging them $50 fines for placing these colorful stickers on already-covered garbage cans. Or maybe the center of town should include a large banner hanging from the Center Square Civil War Memorial that reads, "Visit the Crayola Factory, pay your 48 cent per person tax on admission there, and get the heck out of town." They'd rather have a sticker-free town than your business, apparently. Add Easton, PA to your list of towns not to move to.
Of course, I'm sure that Easton has normal people who don't mind the stickers and what they represent. Unfortunately, it's not their voices we're hearing.
Blogathon 2007