For some reason, for all of the damage I saw, this sign down spoke the most to me. This welcome sign greeted people coming from the west at the entry to town, and was posted at the edge of Graceland Cemetery. When I first encountered it, I wondered how old the sign was, and how the members of the clubs that do so much for the community felt when it was erected. Was there a ceremony? A dedication? Did all clubs donate money for the sign to be built and erected? How long ago did it happen? Was a committee involved? Who designed it? What determined the placement of the individual club signs? Where did the clubs get them? Is there a place where they can be ordered, or were they all created locally? Did the people who designed the sign hope that someone would join their club and come to meetings after seeing the signs? For people driving by, was this welcome sign an indication of the vitality of the community, or a monument to some of the clubs that are not prospering, a sign of times gone by? Are some of the clubs gone? Will they all rally to make sure the sign goes up again? Who will fix it, who will erect it, and will there be the pride that I suspect was there when it originally went up years ago? What will the people who erect the sign feel as they raise it? Or, will the sign be hauled to the landfill, with a few dedicated members of the clubs taking their individual signs home, to eventually gather dust in the garage of a descendent who doesn't care at all--who doesn't know what an "Optimist" is, or what "Lions" contribute to. And what the heck is "Rotary," anyway?
But we'll see. Will the sign go up again? Will it be bigger and better, with maybe more clubs contributing? Maybe it will be a big neon sign with floodlights reaching skyward, attracting interest from 50 miles away? We'll see. But if it's raised again, I'll be there.
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