Over the course of two years, 55-plus meetings, 2,000 volunteer hours, at least 5,000 miles of in-valley travel and 25 gallons of coffee, leaders of the San Luis Valley may be just hours away from branding the area as ONE.

After decades of bickering over which communities drive the economy of the valley, the Valley Initiative Partners are prepared to unveil a possible logo and tagline that represents all 8,000 square miles.

“One Valley, One Voice, One Vote” is the theme of a branding pre-launch event set for 6 p.m. Thursday at Carson Auditorium in the Student Union Building at Adams State University. Light refreshments will be offered at 5:30 p.m. and everyone is welcome to attend and vote.

The Partners are an ad-hoc group of local participants from all walks of valley life that have been working on an economic development exercise to develop a single SLV brand. The hope is that a logo and tagline can be finalized that best fits the “spirit and authenticity” of the entire valley.

Eric Grossman, a former mayor of Creede, has been spearheading the initiative that was partially funded by a grant. He said Thursday’s meeting is a “culmination of countless volunteer hours to brand the region to those who are unaware of what it has to offer, or that it even exists.”

This combined with a “code of ethics” initiated by the Upper Rio Grande Economic Development group indicates that SLV leaders might finally be ready to work together for one common goal; steady economic growth here. Rather than compete, let’s work as ONE.