Falls company put ‘heart and soul’ into new gateway to Canada sign
Visitors coming into Canada on the highway from the Rainbow Bridge will now be greeted by a large Welcome to Niagara Falls sign.
Created by local company Signature Sign and Image, the 32-foot wide and 15-foot tall structure has been installed on Highway 420, near Powell Avenue.
The sign is anchored by a stone wall and refers to Niagara Falls as the gateway to Canada.
Each letter in Niagara Falls is filled in with images often associated with the city, including the Horseshoe Falls; Hornblower; Skylon Tower; Whirlpool Aero Car; dice (for the casinos) and Niagara Skywheel. Two of the letters feature images of Queen Street and fireworks.
“We put our heart and soul into it,” said Mark Wallis, vice president of Signature Sign and Image, located on Kent Avenue.
“We love Niagara Falls, so we wanted to make sure that this was an art piece. They call us the gateway to Canada because that’s where all the tourists come in and that’s the first thing they see, so it’s got to be powerful.”
Wallis said the project was a collaborative effort between himself and the entire staff at Signature Sign and Image, including his mother Elaine and his fiancé, Emily Butko.
He said the sign was installed Wednesday and lights were installed Thursday evening.
“Each letter is lit, backlit, so it’s kind of a backlit photo and then around it there’s some LED border tubing that kind of lights up the red section and then the blue section is behind it.
“It’s got a bunch of layers to it.” Wallis said Signature Sign and Image won a competitive bid last summer.
He said the business had about a $90,000 budget to do the work.
“It took one month to build — one month of straight fabrication, paint and all that.”
Mayor Jim Diodati said the sign was approved and funded by city council as part of the Canada 150 year of events.
A volunteer committee led by Chris Dabrowski, co-owner of Niagara Falls Comic Con, organized 150 events and legacy projects in the city last year. The welcome sign was the final one.
“We have millions of people that cross into Canada through the Rainbow Bridge and there (was) no real official welcome,” said Diodati.
“A lot of planning went into the design. We wanted it to have a kind of vintage feel to it, like the old postcards. We didn’t want it to look like every other welcome sign. It’s a beautiful sign, it’s gorgeous.”
Wallis said the company used previous projects they worked on to sell the job to the city.
He said Signature Sign and Image recently won multiple International Sign and Design awards for the new sign they did for the Flying Saucer restaurant on Lundy’s Lane and the sign for the new Big Top maze attraction on Clifton Hill.
Wallis said they hope the Welcome to Niagara Falls gateway sign will also receive similar recognition.
He said he and his fiancé have also received international attention and are part of what they call a select “elite” group, which works closely with the International Sign Association located in Washington, D.C.
“This group works with leaders in our industry all over the world to help expand recognition and make the sign industry become a desirable job market for our younger generation.”