PRINEVILLE Cowboy Country. Gateway to the Ochocos. A recreational paradise for hunters and fishermen.

Prineville may be all of these things and more, but this town of 8,300 or so residents the only incorporated town in Crook County is on a mission to come up with a short, snappy sound bite of what it is in order to better market itself and kick-start a flagging downtown.

Led by an energetic Chamber of Commerce president, Prineville business and government leaders are in the middle of an effort called ”Our Town.” It’s designed to let residents themselves determine what defines Prineville so that feeling can be passed on to visitors and companies or persons who might be considering locating there.

”If we don’t have a sense of pride in our town, we can’t promote ourselves to others,” said Donna Mohan, a Prineville native and owner of the Posie Shoppe downtown. Elected president of the Prineville/Crook County Chamber of Commerce in January, she immediately set forth on a crusade to get fellow business owners and others interested in pumping up Prineville’s image.

”For my inaugural address I talked about the need to revitalize downtown,” she said, ”and I saw people nodding. I was hoping they weren’t nodding off on my speech.”

She found out otherwise when 70 or 80 people attended the first meeting on the Our Town concept in February, meaning the meeting had to be moved to a larger venue. ”I think it struck a chord,” she said.

For several months, a task force of 10 persons has been working to refine the Our Town idea, including handing out a survey that asks such questions as:

-How is Prineville defined by people from other areas? Among the choices: A cute little town. A backward community. Middle of nowhere. Cowboy country. A pleasant, friendly community.

-How would you like to see Prineville in 10 years: Unchanged. Crowded. Like Redmond. To become an oasis in Central Oregon.

-What type of image would you like to see for the Prineville project? Western heritage. Historical city. Railroad town. Les Schwab country. Recreational paradise.

The surveys were due to be returned to the chamber by the end of May, and Mohan said as of this past week, about 200 had been returned.

So what makes this revitalization effort different from those in the past? While it’s still early, there seems to be a perception that all parties concerned are ready to cooperate, say spokesmen from both private and public agencies who acknowledge that several studies done over the past couple of decades have gone nowhere.

”This is probably the most organized approach that I’ve seen,” said Dick Brown, Prineville’s city planner. I would hope that it gets something done because something needs to be done.

”There needs to be a majority opinion about what to do. That’s been the problem in the past. There’s kind of this sense it may be different this time.”

Diane Bohle, the chamber’s executive director, agrees. She said that Prineville traditionally had a strong retail base, until new trends like the covered malls opened in Bend in the 1970s and lured shoppers away.

There are nearly a dozen empty storefronts in Prineville’s central core, one of the most recent coming when Ochoco Hardware near the courthouse closed its doors.

”When people began shopping out of town, retail suffered,” she said. ”But I think that’s changing. We’re trying to re-establish the tradition of having small niche shops with personal service and quality merchandise.”

That message is finding a ready audience. Marla Stafford and her husband Mark, both longtime Prineville residents, a few months ago opened the Stafford Inn motel on Prineville’s east side. Recently, Mark and his brothers purchased the decaying Morgan Restaurant downtown and are renovating the landmark business inside and out.

”I think (Our Town) is a great idea, something that’s needed to happen for a long time,” Marla Stafford said. ”I just wish everyone would get on the bandwagon and go forward. I hear a lot of people talking about it, but putting it into effect is another thing.”

Although details still need to be worked out, the effort seems to be heading in two directions: coming up with an easily remembered so-called ”brand” for Prineville, much like Portland is the Rose City and Eugene is known as the Emerald City; and figuring out ways to find money to fix sidewalks and do other physical improvement projects.

There’s no easy solution for either part, however.

”The point of doing a brand is to break through the noise,” Bohle said.

”People are innundated with messages. We need a marketing strategy, a way to articulate who were are. We know who we are, we just haven’t said it as effectively as we should.”

”We don’t want a theme like Sisters, but rather an identity for tourists, prospective businesses and residents,” Mohan said.

But what is that identity?

”You can’t project an image of a French bistro when you have cattle running through town during rodeo week,” Mohan said. ”There are many things about Prineville. You think historical Old West, it’s the oldest city in Central Oregon and we do have the cowboy image.”

Stafford, for one, likes the cowboy theme. After all, the high school teams are the Cowboys and Cowgirls, and even the sheriff’s office has an image of a bucking bronc on the front of the building.

”I feel the history of Prineville is ranchers, farmers, and cowboys. That’s what I think we need to build on,” she said.

Financing for improvements also can be touchy. The city has applied for but has failed to win several grants in the past, partly because of differing opinions about what improvements are needed, Brown said.

”The city’s position is to be there to facilitate and support whatever (the group) comes up with,” he said.

Whatever happens, Prineville’s fresh look at itself is likely to be a healthy thing for the community, leaders say.

”I’m proud that I live in Prineville and we’re the oldest community in Central Oregon,” Bohle said. ”We’re many, many things. We need to distill it to something where you have some instant connection, and I think this group is on the right track.”