Eastern Oregon town went more than halfway for Web stunt

HALFWAY — Signs outside this town in the eastern part of the state welcome visitors to Half.com, Ore., "America first dot-com city."

JEFFREY KOSSEFF Oregonlive.com

If you want to visit, though, you had better log on soon.

That’s because Half.com, the Web site, is more than halfway to Internet heaven. This week’s announcement that it will wind down operations sealed the fate on one of the most bizarre and highly publicized marketing experiments of the dot-com era. And it ended a wild ride for a sleepy Oregon town that was only half-convinced it wanted the notoriety it signed up for.

In 2000, Halfway, Ore., agreed to change its name to Half.com in exchange for $73,000 and 24 computers for schools, a windfall that supporters of the deal said would greatly benefit the town about 50 miles east of Baker City.

"It was a very positive thing for our community," said Thomas Crane, school superintendent. "It’s a good memory now."

Others among Halfway’s 340 residents protested the dot-comization of their quiet hometown. Some say they now are relieved to see a final chapter to the bumpy era.

"It doesn’t really surprise me," said Estella Summers, a Halfway resident since her birth in 1911. "It was one of those fly-by-night things, and I think the most sensible people who lived here felt the same way."

The name change was publicized in news reports and advertisements worldwide as one of the great excesses of the Internet economy, at a time of wild spending when it was tough to shock the world with flashy marketing tactics.

"They made millions from the publicity," Summers said.

But after a year of being in the national spotlight, Half.com, Ore., returned to obscurity. Online auction giant eBay acquired Half.com, the Web site, and in 2001 chose not to renew its contract with Half.com, the town. It softened the blow by donating an extra $20,000 for economic development.

Indeed eBay, which will eventually receive all visitors to Half.com when the sites’ operations merge in late 2004, may continue to benefit from the short blitz of fame in the Wallowa Mountains.

Said eBay spokesman Kevin Pursglove: "Whenever I talk with reporters about Half.com, people always mention the relationship with Halfway, Ore."

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