"I was driving through Stafford County on I-95 a couple of weeks ago," said Kathy Frazier, head of a firm that creates signs telling tourists where the local sights are, "when it hit me like a ton of bricks that there were no Stafford signs. Where, I asked myself, am I?"
County officials believe they are within a year of providing a visual answer to that question.
Frazier runs her own company in Staunton, in the Shenandoah Valley. Her group made the signs for Jamestown's 400th anniversary celebrations last year, and earlier this year Loudoun supervisors approved the company's design for signs directing tourists around their county.
Last Thursday Frazier talked to the Stafford Way-finding Task Group, comprising 14 officials including two county supervisors, the director of planning and zoning, and Stafford's tourist manager, as well as people from the Federal Highway Administration and the Virginia Department of Transportation.
The meeting was the second for the group. The first was a month ago, when Frazier Associates presented six designs to the task force. From the comments made then, Frazier said Thursday, "We are down to three designs. After today's discussion, we'll boil them down to one by next month."
Aside from agreeing that "Stafford County" should appear on the signs, a spirited two-hour discussion debated colors, sizes, shapes, a slogan, use of stone (rough, smooth, any?), and "What should a stylized river look like?" of information that would be easy to absorb by a driver passing by at high speed.
Three levels of signs are proposed: "Gateway" signs to catch the eye of people entering the county on I-95, U.S. 1, and 17, and State Route 3; "Trailblazer" signs on primary, secondary and tertiary roads with arrows to tourist attractions; and small pictographs to tell drivers they are on the right road.
The basic colors will be maroon and marine blue (with white lettering). Gateway signs could be up to 12 feet wide and 9 feet high, perhaps on a stone base. "A stone base for the gateway says you have really arrived someplace," suggested planning director Jeff Harvey.
Trailblazer signs could be 4 feet by 5 feet in size, mounted on 12-foot posts. The pictographs could be an eye-catching square yard in size.
The only illustration on the various signs would be a stylized river, representing the Potomac and the Rappahannock, which bracket Stafford. Some on the task force objected to what they called a "cartoonish" version on the proposed designs. "We need to work on the river," Frazier said.
The question of "What's in a brand?" arose when discussion turned to a proposed slogan for the Gateway signs. Suggested was "Foundation of Freedom." No specifics were given as to what that meant. Some other ideas mentioned were: The county is the site of George Washington's boyhood home, at Ferry Farm; Stafford has Government Island, whose quarry produced stone for the U.S. Capitol and the White House; the historic Stafford Iron Works produced much of the weaponry for the American forces during the Revolution.
"This is finally a 'brand' decision," Frazier said, "one that the Board of Supervisors will have to make." The two supervisors on the task force, Chairman George Schwartz and Aquia's Paul Milde, agreed.
A task force decision on the sign project next month could lead to a formal presentation to the full board in September. A fall decision could lead to the first signs being put in place a year from now. No cost has been mentioned.
Hugh Muir: 540/735-1975
Email: hmuir@freelancestar.com