Topeka ? The city of Topeka is looking for a few good words to promote the city’s image.

Officials planned to begin a contest in October for a city slogan, with the winning motto to be announced around Dec. 5, Topeka’s 150th anniversary.

But The Topeka Capital-Journal decided to get a head start on the contest, and many of the suggestions it got from readers may have city officials shaking their heads.

One suggestion, “Topeka, A City of Characters,” spoofed Topeka’s City of Character program.

Other suggestions that aren’t likely to win official approval included “Topeka, you won’t get a lot of unwanted relatives visiting you,” and “Topeka — not as bad as you think.”

Mayor James McClinton said Topeka has positive aspects like the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site and the Statehouse that it can promote and shouldn’t get sidetracked by naysayers.

“There’s so much about Topeka that we all know and that we’ve lived over the years,” McClinton said. “What is it that we want to be our image that we can hold on to?”

Some other suggestions may be closer to what the mayor is looking for.

For example, there was “Topeka, a great place to grow.”

Local resident Julie Viets came up with “Topeka, the beat of the heartland.”

Viets told the newspaper in an e-mail: “I have never been disappointed when it came to the generosity of the people who live here. When a need arises, they step up and come through every time. The city has a big heart, and we should be proud of that.”

The slogan will be used to promote the city and so must portray it favorably — unlike many of the suggestions that the Topeka Convention and Visitors Bureau has received already.

“I didn’t think they were terribly positive,” said Stephanie Wallingford, the bureau’s marketing and tourism manager.

And if Terry Carpenter’s suggestion — “City of morons” — is any indication of the prevailing sentiment, Topeka may just forgo a slogan entirely.

“No slogan is better than a bad one,” Wallingford said. “Maybe we don’t use one. Maybe we get our theme knocked out and get some graphic that we can use that says it all.”