Our good friend Brian Denlinger of Denlinger Design agreed to design one with me and what developed was a year long process that ended just yesterday.
Our good friend Jeff Wright of Built Wright Construction agreed to get rough cut hemlock and he actually brought it up to my house where we have a wood drying barn. There the wood laid flat for weeks until Jeff picked it up and began building the 9 X 4 feet sign structure. (actually it was even bigger at first but we had to make alterations) Jeff by the way has built many hemlock sheds and other items and in fact built a shed on site at my house a few years ago. He is great at what he does and is a great guy too, so send him some business!
By Spring, Brian Denlinger took the sign to Granite Works, where they used our design and logo to make the template to sandblast around to give us a "hand carved" look. This actually took alot more engineering than we had expected and we didn't even get the sign back from the sand blasting until summer because of alterations we decided to make before the sand blasting could even begin.
By late summer, the sign made it into SRAC, and the long slow process of priming all of the design that needed to be painted and weather sealed - which even Dick Cowles, MaryAnn Taylor, and Sam Ayers took part in.
And at that point, you'd think that it was easy to get it up on the side of the building, right?
Nope. The truth is the hardest thing was yet ahead of us...or I should say in front of Tom Vallilee....His job was to figure out how to hang a 9x4 feet sign made of solid hemlock that weighed ALOT on a space that actually was wood panels covering up old glass windows!
In the end after of months of planning he figured it out, drilling anchors from the steel girder of the building above the place where the sign would hang and having a custom made frame made to perfectly lower the sign over the area that actually has no place to anchor it.
Yesterday - he and a bunch of SRAC friends put up a scaffold and lifted the frame and sign into place...And I just have to say - - it is PERFECT.
You know after writing this, I have to say that this is yet another of those great SRAC stories where so many people have come together to make something that at times we wondered if we could ever achieve. And I must tell you that THAT is consistently what differentiates SRAC from so many nonprofit organizations with only volunteer help. By that I mean, we have been through so much together and faced hard times and good times together that we are a big family that takes care of each other. As a result many of our membership and friends are willing to roll up their sleeves and help.
Personally, I feel blessed to be a part of an organization such as SRAC where you can be feel like you are welcome the first day that you enter our doors and if you stick around with usfor any amount of time - you may just be inspired.
Thank you to Tom and all of our friends who made the year long process of creating and getting our sign up on the building a success....!
When any of you drive by and look up at this incredible piece of artwork- I hope that you will think about this story and how that sign represents so much more than a logo on a big piece of wood.
It was and always will be a sign of something very solid and special that we were all lucky enough to be a part of
....and made to last for a very long time.
THe sign is beautiful and very much needed. This whole building and program is a miracle realized by a lot of hard work and dedication. We all thank those responsible, a great asset to our Valley area.
ReplyDeleteA wonderfull classy sign. Great job! S.R.A.C is indeed an important asset to to the Valley.
ReplyDeleteI hope that you will think about this story and how that sign represents so much more than a logo on a big piece of wood.
ReplyDelete