This hasn’t made the front page of The New York Times (yet!), but I thought it was important to get the word out: Topeka, Kansas has changed its name to “Google, Kansas — the capital city of fiber optics.” This move is part of Topeka’s (I mean Google’s) push to be chosen as one of Google’s experimental cities in its Fiber for Communities program.
Bill Bunten, Google’s mayor explained, though, that the change won’t be permanent. “We are very proud of our city and Topeka is an Indian word which means ‘a good place to grow potatoes.’ We’re not going to change that.” Well said!
The CNN.com article continued:
Do people grow potatoes in Topeka these days?
“I don’t think we grow that many potatoes anymore,” [Bunten] said. “The crops we have out here are wheat and corn and soybeans and alfalfa. And, did I say soybeans?”
This isn’t the first time Topeka has switched its name to mark a cultural trend. In 1998, former mayor Joan Wagnon temporarily changed the name of the city to “ToPikachu, Kansas,” in reference to the Pikachu anime character, from the show and game called “Pokemon,” which was popular at the time, according to the Topeka Capital-Journal.
Bunten, the current mayor, was quick to attribute that bizarre “ToPikachu” happening to another local administration.
“I read in the paper this morning that they did a similar thing a number of years ago. Hold on, maybe I can get this sorted out. Just a minute,” he said, turning to an assistant for details.
“We did it for a day,” he said, sounding perplexed. “I can’t remember why.”
I just became a huge fan of Bill Bunten.
Photo credit: Charlie is here on flickr