It promises to be anything but Boring when a quiet American farming town marks its pairing with Highland Perthshire hamlet Dull in time-honoured fashion.
Residents of the Oregon town are set to mark their ties with Dull by having an ice-cream social, a flag salute and live music including bagpipes on what they have entitled Boring and Dull Day.
Members of the Boring Community Planning Organisation agreed to the pairing in 2012 after being contacted by the Dull Women’s Book Club.
The move to mark the pairing was taken to the state Senate for approval, after it was agreed at the Oregon House of Representatives.
And to make the situation even more “interesting”, the Bland Shire Council in Australia voted earlier this year to make it a trio with all the pairings aimed at boosting tourism.
The idea for pairing the communities came when Elizabeth Leighton, who lives in Aberfeldy, near Dull, was on a cycling holiday in America. After passing through Boring she immediately phoned her friend Emma Burtles, a resident of Dull, with the idea about a link.
Mrs Burtles then contacted Dull and Weem Community Council and Steve Bates, chairman of Boring Community Planning Organisation, to discuss the potential partnership.
A blog, written by Andy Sernovitz, the New York Times bestselling author of Word of Mouth Marketing, gives his view on the pairing between Boring and Dull.
He states: “The small farming town of Boring has heard all of your jokes and they’ll admit there’s not really much going on there. But when one resident came across Dull, Scotland, they decided to bring a little excitement to both communities by celebrating Boring and Dull Day.
“It’s a way to bring the communities closer together and earn some publicity for their little towns. On their own, Boring and Dull are funny town names, but by making a partnership, they made something worth talking about.”