News

Prototype wayfinding sign debuts on Church Street

By Lightning Reports, Published: December 14, 2017

After more than two years of design and discussion, new signage will be rolled out across Henderson County next spring.

The first prototype of the wayfinding signs, featuring white letters on a sky blue background, just went up on Church Street. It points to the Visitors Center. Sixty-seven more signs, pointing to attractions or common destinations like City Hall, the Flat Rock Playhouse and parks, will go up around the county by early June, said Lew Holloway, the city’s downtown development director, who coordinated the project for the Tourism Development Authority.
“They’ll be from Bat Cave to DuPont to all corners of the county,” he said. “The concentration will be in and around the city but there are destinations that we’ll point to that are all over the county.”
Low bidder for the project, Color-Ad Inc., of Alexandria, Virginia, will manufacture and install the signs. Single post signs will show one, two or three destinations, with a taller sign if there are three. A larger two-post sign for speed zones of 25 mph or higher also contain one to three destination and have larger lettering. A vertical sleeve on the back of each sign shows the name of the town it’s in and each town has a different color.
The city of Hendersonville and the TDA split the original design cost. The TDA is footing the bill, almost $500,000, for making and putting up the signs.
“We’ve gotten pretty positive feedback so far,” he said, adding he was pleased with the prototype that’s now up downtown. “I thought it stood right out.”