Here are the vote totals from www.namethemuseum.org:
- TOTAL VOTE NUMBERS -5328
- PEORIA RIVERFRONT MUSEUM – 2658 – 50%
- ILLINOIS [RIVER VALLEY] MUSEUM – 1389 – 26%
- PORT OF EXPLORATION MUSEUM – 617 – 12%
- MUSEUM ON THE SQUARE – 375 – 7%
- HEARTLAND CENTER – 162 – 3%
- WRITE IN’S – 127 -2%
I find it funny that “Peoria Riverfront Museum” got 50% of the vote in a five-way race despite the fact that museum names with “Peoria” in them “didn’t test well” in focus groups. I suppose that should give us all pause as we consider the value of such groups.
Thank you to the museum collaboration group for listening to the public on this one. There were some really good choices this time around (second place winner “Illinois River Valley Museum” was a good name, too) and it’s clear the winning name has a lot of support.
Now, let’s see if we can’t listen to the public some more and get that design to conform to the Heart of Peoria Plan….
Interesting – 5328 votes! How many were school children and how many people voted twice? They should name it ” Tax Payers Museum”.
5328 votes! WOW! I am surprised they gave out the actual number of voters. Actually, how many were Lakeview members, etc? Why should we thank them for listening to the public? They have never listened before. O.K. I am not trying to be a poop-head, but I am thinking the voting area is around the size of the Journal Star readership area?.?.? How many people is that [approx.]? Where am I going with this…
Just for fun, I’d like to see the results of the first round. It couldn’t have been pretty.
I did vote this time and thankfully my ‘candidate’ won.
I also prefer the black and yellow generic brand.
This is a weird concept of fun, but since you asked, while I don’t have the full vote totals from the first round of balloting, I do know that “Museum on the Square” received the most votes and “Port of Exploration Museum” received the second highest level of support. Interesting that “Museum on the Square” dropped to #4 the second time around. Guess it’s supporteres found a better option with the new names offered in the second round of balloting.
Also, CJ, you have the second name listed incorrectly, it was “Illinois River Valley Museum”. And I agree, obviously the consultants hired by the Museum Group lead them down the wrong path with their research that indicated that the name of the community should not be included in the name of the museum.
Basically this internet poll was just a big local focus group. The votes are a sample of local bloggers and Journal Star readers with internet access – and not a very good sample, since you could vote more than once. I think it shows that most people don’t give a ____ about what they name the museum, as long as it isn’t Amazeum or Explorasphere. However, as C.J. points out, Peoria Riverfront Museum did win a majority of the votes in a five way race. Unless someone email bombed the naming site (which I hope they’d notice), the results probably reflect the will of the people that care about this issue.
Were the focus groups they used before from outside the Peoria area?
Katmandu — I copied and pasted the results from the namethemuseum.org website, and that’s how they have the second name listed. You’re right that it’s incorrect, but it was the museum group that got it wrong. I rechecked it this morning (9 a.m.) and it was still listed wrong as of that time.
Knight — Yes, I believe the focus groups they used before were outside of Peoria.
Sometime ago, people were writing about CAT’s involvement with museum project (Regional Museum – Peoria is suck-up to CAT, etc). Why is Mark Johnson quoted as saying, “[CAT] is awaiting the fundraising certainty of the other museum before it starts building its own.”???????
Thakfully the voters had the good sense not to choose Heartland Center, which sounds like an office complex or medical center. It’s worse than the names that were dropped from the first list.
The funniest thing about this whole debacle:
The quote in the paper about how “arduous” and hard this whole naming thing has been. If they think that’s hard, wait till they try to raise the rest of the money. Someone cue the circus music.
Mazr — You ain’t kiddin’. However, I fear they’ll take a page from the park district’s playbook and start building it anyway, ala Glen Oak Zoo. Maybe they’ll just build the big planetarium ball first, and then wait for the rest of the funding to build the rest of it…. Ha ha!
Let them go to the Public Building Commission.
Did I read the J Star correctly today? Did they interview Ardis, Richerson, etc at the “Name the Museum” party that went down at the Maxim? This town is starved for attention. I wonder how the rest of the world is looking at Peoria right now.
I know I was with-holding my million dollar donation until they came up with a name.
Only public bodies can get funding through the Public Building Commission. I don’t think the museum collaboration qualifies, as it’s a private, albeit not-for-profit, corporation.