Still in its early stages, concrete ideas for the Town of Friday Harbor’s brand are slowly but surely coming to fruition.

A survey, accessible through the town website for several weeks, asked the community what Friday Harbor means to them, and is now complete.

The branding committee, made up of community members, business owners and town council members, is studying the 608 survey responses, and working them into a plan.

Town Administrator Duncan Wilson said the survey results are clear; people are passionate about Friday Harbor, but many are still concerned about the project’s goal.

“We have to be clear in our discussion, so people understand that any brand we come up with will be organic, not manufactured,” Wilson said.

The first order of business is the brand statement, designed to capture the essence of the community, its ideals, and how to protect those elements in order to remain authentic.

The town is working with Roger Brooks International, a branding development company. Brooks grew up on San Juan Island and graduated from Friday Harbor High School, and is well known in the tourism industry.

Brooks has given the committee a formula to work with for brainstorming and statement building, but he won’t meet with them again until March 2015, which is when actual application of the brand will be discussed.

In the meantime, the committee is meeting every few weeks. From the last meeting to the next, member’s homework assignment is to come up with the five most important goals they want a brand to achieve, and five things that people want Friday Harbor to be known for.

“Promoting more tourism in the summer season is not high on the list,” Wilson said. “Extending the visitor season into fall, winter and spring is.”

Unified ideas within the committee and the main concepts taken from the survey will result in a branding statement. So far, economic sustainability, conservation, and education are at the forefront, Wilson said.

Friday Harbor art gallery owner and branding committee member Micajah Bienvenu says the panel’s job so far has been to identify the community’s strengths, look at what fits for the town, and reflect upon what the community wants and doesn’t want.

As an artist and business owner, Bienvenu said he got involved with the committee because he wants to see a more rounded community that can create jobs, and that can entice more creative people to make a home for their families and businesses in Friday Harbor.

“The committee is coming up with exactly the opposite of what the critics are afraid of,” he said. “It’s more of a community building project than a branding project.”

The committee meets next in early December.