I live in Boston. I watched this. this is how I saw it. First of all, I have personally never heard of Leavenworth. I would LOVE to visit Leavenworth now w/ my family of 2 kids (4 & 7) along with my wife. When I watch this, in the picture frames, you see “The Real” Leavenworth, which to me looks beautiful!! I don’t think anyone would ever see or think of Leavenworth as skanky at all. Folks online, know this is marketing & done well. I know it’s sensitive. Hope to see your state soon!

Dave, commenting on YouTube on the “Gitcha Goomsba Up” video.

Last week a reader e-mailed me a link to Leavenworth’s most notable promotional video, “Gitcha Goomsba Up,” featuring their Bavarian nutcracker mascot Woody Goomsba and the now famous bare-midriffed dirndl dancers. I had never seen it, never heard of it. In the first 30 seconds I was laughing so hard I came to tears. A co-worker from the Upper Valley heard the commotion, came in and watched and was soon howling with equal energy. And soon, a young (relatively) co-worker followed up and said, “Oh, that. That was out a week ago.”

Well, how out of touch can I get? An entire week. It’s old news. Everybody’s seen that except the old coot at the Opinion page.

You surely can expand your market with print advertising and I’ll be happy to tell you it’s worth every penny, but Woody makes a point. There are a great many old coots like myself who love Leavenworth and are reminded of that with every beautiful photo we see in every newspaper and magazine, but there are millions and millions of people born after 1953 for whom a Leavenworth promotional rap spoof video is old news in a week. It reached them. They know the name Leavenworth. They know it is beautiful and fun and, shall we say, picturesque. Woody Goomsba has gone viral — more than 109,000 hits on YouTube at last count. How much is that worth in back-of-the-airline-magazine Bavarian gazebo shots? I wouldn’t hazard a guess.

i wanna be there, im german. — YouTube comment

For those who worry that the wrong crowd will be drawn by a racy rap video, with barely concealed girls and barely concealed provocative language, with beer drinking and Oktoberfesting to accompany the rafting and biking and golfing, the answer is, probably. But, I tend to think you might gain even more good by not taking yourself too seriously. What got me laughing was the joy of seeing Leavenworth make fun of itself, to see the mythical cubicle worker win a trip to Leavenworth and rip off his clothes to find his inner lederhosen. There was a time when defamation of lederhosen was a crime. No longer. That’s likely to make the authentic draw of Leavenworth that much more valuable.

lol, man i love this video. i live in washington, and leavensworth is the schizzle this time of year. its the single most beautiful place i have ever seen, and this time of year with all them lights. lol, this video is awesome, good job whoever is responsible this.

— YouTube comment

I ran those comments through a translator. I was assured they are complimentary. Internet literacy is a topic for another day. And, I’m told to watch out for the next Halloween costume fad for couples, which has something to do with dirndls and nutcrackers. You can find a link to the video here: www.wenatcheeworld.com/news/2010/dec/14/gitcha-goomsba-ad-getting-attention/

Tracy Warner’s column appears Tuesday through Friday. He can be reached at warner@wenatcheeworld.com or 665-1163.