Signs Of The Times

Yesterday was a working day for us. We had to drive into Ohio and play tourist. Yeah, I know, it sucks to be us.

We left the campground about 11 a.m. and our first stop was supposed to be the National Underground Railroad Center, down near the riverfront in Cincinnati, but we got caught in a massive traffic jam due to an event at Paul Brown Stadium, home to the Cincinnati Bengals, and moved 400 feet in about 25 minutes. The problem was compounded by road construction, and when we finally did get off the highway we discovered that Freedom Way, the street where our destination is located, was closed. We drove around in circles dodging traffic and pedestrians and realized that it just wasn’t happening for us this day. We decided to reschedule our visit and went to Plan B.

Of course, Plan B was pretty cool, too. We drove about four miles to the American Sign Museum, one of the most colorful places we have ever seen. And I do mean colorful!

The only public sign museum in the country documenting the history of American signs, the museum is a real trip down Memory Lane, and reminded me of road trips as a kid in the back seat of my father’s Desoto. I’m sure I saw some of these very same signs along the way!

One display is called Main Street and is made up to look like a typical city street in the 1940s or 50s. I could have stayed there all day!

Along with the colorful neon signs were descriptions of the businesses they advertised and about how sign art evolved over time.

A business called Neonworks of Cincinnati is located next door to the Sign Museum and they share a common wall. There are large windows through which museum visitors can watch sign makers at work.

But not all signs are created equally, and not all of them are illuminated. The American Sign Museum has some great examples of other types of signs, both inside and outside.

Just walking through this place could make you hungry.

I’ll have a feature on the museum in our next issue, though it will be hard to show the beauty of all of these signs in black and white. But I’ll figure out something.

Don’t forget to enter our latest Free Drawing. This week’s prize is an audiobook of Crazy Days in Big Lake, the third book in my Big Lake mystery series. All you have to do is click on the Free Drawing link and enter your name in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn Sunday evening.

Thought For The Day – Die with memories, not dreams.

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