Officials in a Minnesota burg have asked their counterparts in Fraser to withdraw a trademark application for the nickname “Icebox of the Nation,” further fanning the flames in the chilly battle.
The International Falls City Council unanimously passed a resolution late Tuesday asking Fraser to “withdraw its pretended claim” to the federal trademark that it unwittingly let expire 11 years ago.
“The city has been using ‘Icebox of the Nation’ proudly for many years. We believe that the good people of Fraser, once made aware of the facts, will withdraw their claim,” said International Falls Mayor Shawn Mason.
In the resolution, the City Council directed Mason to deliver the request “in any manner she deems fit, whether by e-mail, telephone, mail, fax, snowmobile, snowshoes, cross-country skis, dogsled and/or snowball.”
Officials in Fraser were nonplussed by the cold shot, remaining frozen in their contention that the trademark had been abandoned.
“It’s not like it lapsed and we dashed in and grabbed it,” said Fraser town manager Jeff Durbin. “They didn’t even know it had lapsed. Shame on them. We were kind of like: ‘Hey, if they’re not going to use it …’ ”
The Fraser Town Council took up the issue Wednesday night and decided not to back down.
“It’s the community image,” Durbin said. “People take it seriously. We don’t want to provoke any ill will between the two communities.
“We have a lot of respect for anyone who thinks they’re colder than we are.”
Officials in International Falls say they have been using the nickname since at least 1948; Fraser claims it had the real first use, dating to 1956.
In 1986, International Falls paid Fraser $2,000 for the undisputed rights to the federal trademark, but it was not renewed 10 years later.
Although the Minnesota city on the Canadian border had maintained its trademark at the state level, in recent years it has moved away from prominently featuring the motto, which is deemed by some developers and business interests as unflattering, even while many old-timers see it as a badge of honor.
While International Falls this year dropped “Icebox Days” as the name of its annual winter festival, Fraser has renewed its claim to the nickname in its new town logo, and officials there note that Fraser has held the country’s lowest temperature on more days in the past decade than their Minnesota counterpart.
