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Fellow Dixie Dawg Billy Pickett stopped in Danville Illinois on his way to the Pontiac meet and snapped some photos of the ghost walls he found there. Since this is the site of the next Walldog event, we thought you may enjoy seeing a few of his pics:
-------------------- www.signcreations.net Sonny Franks Lilburn, GA 770-923-9933 Posts: 4115 | From: Lilburn, GA USA | Registered: Feb 1999
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Thank you Billy and to you Sonny - sure did put a big smile on my face to see the picture of the sign I did a few years ago. Wow - such a bright spot on a slow day. Was a joy working with the downtown Danville folks. Looking forward to the Walldog meet there, esp. since it's in my neighborhood.
-------------------- Carol Kaufmann Watseka Sign 1801 N State Rt 1 Watseka, IL 60970 Posts: 33 | From: Watseka, IL | Registered: Jan 2002
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Hi Carol - thanks for letting us know who did the sign - it definitely has a Letterhead look to it. Billy said he just happened through there last summer. Can you tell us any more about the town? Thanks and we'll see you in August......
-------------------- www.signcreations.net Sonny Franks Lilburn, GA 770-923-9933 Posts: 4115 | From: Lilburn, GA USA | Registered: Feb 1999
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Hi Back to you Sonny - as for Danville, they have had some rough economic times in the last few years, and have fought and struggled hard to recover job losses. Their Mayor Scott Eisenhower is a very sharp guy who seems to always be working at improving the town. They had a great sign program a few years back for the downtown area where a business needed to provide 3 quotes with design to the committee, once approved the town paid for 50% of the total sign cost. The thought was to bring in some nicer signs. As for sign shops - all vinyl shops as far as I know. I know Scott Lindley is working on the history part. The town is large and spread out, the downtown area is not a town square, but mostly the main street and the side streets. They have tried to bring an historic "feel" or period look to that stretch of downtown. Any jobs I've done there, they were very open minded, and did not kwibble on price. In my dreams I would like to open a second shop down there, and then I wake up to reality!
-------------------- Carol Kaufmann Watseka Sign 1801 N State Rt 1 Watseka, IL 60970 Posts: 33 | From: Watseka, IL | Registered: Jan 2002
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It would be fun to restore some of the old ones that are existing and bring them back to thier original beauty. The problem we ran into in Pontiac was that some of the brick was in such bad shape that the whole wall had to be repaired or "plastered" over in order to do that. Thanks for sharing those photos, Sonny & Billy and nice sign Carol!
-------------------- Jane Diaz Diaz Sign Art 628 W. Lincoln Ave. Pontiac, Il. 61764 815-844-7024 www.diazsignart.com Posts: 4102 | From: Pontiac, IL USA | Registered: Feb 1999
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...It would cost a fortune to restore those old rotten signs. From what I saw the walls are falling apart, as is the towns ancient industrial area. The signs are quaint, but I don't see how 'restoring' them is going to revitalize this part of town. ...However, It's still early (eight months) tp predict events, but the meet and town organizers could have some magic up their 'sleeves'. Let's hope so! Pontiac really set the standard for wall dog meets.
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Our TIF district funds helped the building owner fix the building up. But the owner of the building had to pay at least half. If the brick was tight and they are able to be repaired with just a bit of tuck pointing, they did it. The condition of the wall sort of determined how much they were willing to stick into the repairs. It can get REALLY pricey if the brick is in bad repair. A few years ago we restored a wall in Chenoa, a town about 10 miles from here. We took lots of "before" photos and did lots of research. The day we showed up and painted that wall white, the downtown came alive with people upset that we were painting that wall out!! The boys had to do it by themselves because Bill had sprained his ankle (Playing golf at Estes!) so they were the brunt of the angry mob. They said they had to explain NUMEROUS times that they were restoring the wall and it would look just like it did but better, not painting it out! It was good experience for them but I don't think they appreciated the notoriety! It can be done, but it's not an easy, cheap proposition!
-------------------- Jane Diaz Diaz Sign Art 628 W. Lincoln Ave. Pontiac, Il. 61764 815-844-7024 www.diazsignart.com Posts: 4102 | From: Pontiac, IL USA | Registered: Feb 1999
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There's a few of them over in Peoria. At least there were 28 yrs ago...
-------------------- Jack Wills Studio Design Works 1465 E.Hidalgo Circle Nye Beach / Newport, OR Posts: 2914 | From: Rocklin, CA. USA | Registered: Dec 1998
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