Marion ready to roll out new ‘welcome’ signs

Marion ready to roll out new ‘welcome’ signs

Banner- style signs will promote city, special events

news@theeveningtimes.com

New ‘Welcome to Marion’ signs should be in place by April 1.

The City’s Advertising and Promotions Commission which oversees the funds collected from the city’s one cent “hamburger tax” on prepared foods last year agreed to spend up to $15,700 to install four new signs.

The signs will be placed on Mound City road across from St. John’s Landing, Hwy. 77 north of the railroad tracks, Tristate Surgery Center on the Service Road, a new one at the current welcome sign on Military Road.

That sign will be relocated to courthouse square.

Tracy Brick of the Marion Chamber of Commerce said she is waiting to sign the contract for the sign at Tristate Surgery Center.

“Once I get that looked at and signed we will be able to do that one,” Brick said.

The signs have a decorative “M” in the latticework across the top and will have space inside the sign for a changeable four foot by eight foot vinyl banner.

The banners will be used to promote various events in Marion such as the annual 5K run, Sultana Museum, and Esperanza Bonanza.

Brick said the banners were printed by Williams Sign Co. Inc. of Memphis.

“I will be back in June for a new request for more banners,” Brick said.

In other business, Brick said the restoration work on the Sultana mural on the old drugstore (Brick building) is done, and that city crews will be applying sealer to the mural to protect it against weathering.

The steamboat mural of the Grandee got a facelift in March 2015 by Delta Arts, which repainted the boat to represent the Sultana in honor of the 150th anniversary of America’s greatest maritime disaster and its connection to Marion.

A& P agreed to chip in $1,000 for the paint and sealer.

Brick spent $723 on paint but said she may need an additional appropriation to cover the cost of the sealer. “It may go slightly more than the $1,000,” Brick said. “The quote for the sealer was $400.”

Brick said the public works department told her that they would apply the sealer before the end of April, in time for the city’s first ever Sultana Festival.

By Mark Randall