THE BIG ‘HAW — The Town of Waxhaw has officially rebranded itself as “The Big ’Haw,” bringing a controversial, years-long branding saga to a triumphant conclusion.
Banners featuring the new moniker were unfurled downtown this morning, nearly a decade after the town’s first attempt to brand itself as “The Haw” was met with a petition signed by nearly 1,000 residents who claimed the name evoked “derogatory connotations like ‘hee-haw’ or hick town.”
Town spokesperson Jebediah Finch, who has been involved in Waxhaw’s marketing efforts since the initial campaign, dismissed the 2017 backlash as a simple misunderstanding of scale.
“The people weren’t rejecting the ’Haw,’ they were rejecting its modesty,” Finch explained. “The feedback was clear: they felt the brand lacked ambition. We listened, went back to the drawing board for eight years, and simply added the word ‘Big.’ Problem solved.”
The original $20,000 campaign defined “HAW” as an acronym for Heritage, Activities, and Well-being. The new campaign reportedly builds on that legacy, with “BIG” standing for nothing.
Pam Hinson, a local business owner who opposed the original nickname in 2017, admitted she was won over by the sheer audacity of the update.
“I hated ‘The Haw.’ It felt small, like they were leaning into the stereotype,” Hinson said. “But ‘The Big ’Haw’? Now that has vision. It’s aspirational. It says, ‘Yes, we are a ’Haw,’ and a sizable one at that.’”
