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The tourist signs, they are a-changing Date published: 8/4/2009
Having settled on a "brand name" design of a new sign system to guide tourists, as well as residents, to the attractions of Stafford County, the Tourism Office this week is making final tweaks on what attractions will be listed on the signs, and just how many signs of what size will be installed and where.
Already, transitional signs that draw on the new design's slogan, colors and typography are going up, including one at the Falmouth end of the Rappahannock River bridge. The goal is for the new signs to appear sometime next year. The Board of Supervisors is expected to act during October. In November the plan will go to the Virginia Department of Transportation and by the end of the year to the Federal Highway Administration, which has a say because Interstate 95 is involved. The new Wayfinders system, in the planning stages for a year, is expected to increase tourist traffic in Stafford and encourage residents to get out and about themselves. More than 30 attractions are candidates for the signage. "During the past several years we have taken our tourist effort much more seriously, because we have so much more to offer," said said M.C. Moncure, Tourism Office manager. She pointed to the county's major tourist anchors, the National Museum of the Marine Corps in the north, and the Gari Melchers Home and Studio at Belmont, and Ferry Farm in the south. "That gives us great balance," Moncure said. "Added to our other longtime attractions, the combination produces the synergy, the combination of forces, that makes people want to come here." How many signs that will require, and for how much money, is what will be determined in the coming months. The final proposal and cost estimates for fabrication and installation are scheduled to be provided by the Staunton-based design firm of Frazier & Associates by Sept. 30. "We're talking, maybe, 125 signs," Moncure said. They come in four sizes, starting with two major Gateway signs on I-95. Smaller signs, at exits and on byways, will keep visitors on track. Other prominent signs will mark the second major north-south entry into Stafford, U.S. 1. Key east-west entry points also will have large signs: from Fauquier County on U.S. 17 and from King George County on State Route 218. There also will be signs on State Route 3. More than 100 other signs of varying sizes and placement will lead travelers to wineries, parks, historic sites, theaters, shops, restaurants, cultural centers, golf courses and the Stafford Visitors Center at Belmont. The design of the signs was reached during a series of meetings of the county's Wayfinding Committee, made up of county, state and federal officials, who exchanged ideas and requirements with the Frazier designers. The goal, said Moncure, was "a brand, something to help people recognize our product and secure it in their brain." Hugh Muir: 540/735-1975
Read more stories about Stafford Date published: 8/4/2009
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