Have you ever visited the Harding Home? Walked the grounds of the Harding Memorial? Taken in the Marion County Fair or toured the Huber Museum? It’s surprising how many people that live right here in the Marion area would answer “No” to some or all of these questions.
Yet thousands of people visit our city every year just to see these sites. Sites that should rightfully make Marion area residents proud. Comparatively speaking, of the roughly 25,000 towns in the United States, only 43 can take pride in being the hometown of a U.S. President.
It’s that kind of pride in Marion that Ohio Galvanizing Corporation, a local galvanizing plant, was thinking about when they kicked off their internal initiative they called Galvanizing Marion: Igniting a Passion in Our Community.
“I came here in 1995 to start up Ohio Galvanizing,” said Frank Bellamy, vice president, “so I have a bit of an outsider’s perspective. I see so many positive things in this community, and we talked a lot about them internally. Most of our employees are from the Marion area, and while they agreed, the consensus was the community could use a reminder. That’s when the idea sprang up that as a corporate citizen we should explore ways to help Marion pound its own chest, so to speak.”
One way Ohio Galvanizing could help the community and ignite local pride is by drawing attention to some of our popular tourist attractions. “By showing visitors our pride in these sites, we are also communicating a pride in ourselves as area residents,” said Bellamy.
“We noticed that there were some signs around town that provided directions to the Harding Home and Harding Memorial, but that many of them were faded almost to the point of illegibility. Since we galvanize signposts for our local customer, Nucor Steel Marion, it seemed like a logical extension of our business to build civic pride by replacing these signs,” added Bellamy.
Ohio Galvanizing started the process by first discussing the concept of their funding the replacement of these signs with Mayor Scott Schertzer.
“I was enthusiastic about the project from the beginning,” said the mayor, adding “Since our employees could install them during the regular course of their duties, it was virtually a zero-cost way to improve the appearance of our town. And I am thrilled when local companies take the initiative like this and come to me with low- or no-cost ideas to make our community a nicer place to live.”
At the mayor’s suggestion, Ohio Galvanizing next met with the city and county engineers, and representatives of the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT).
“We learned that ODOT has pretty stringent rules about tourist-oriented directional signs, in terms of their size, shape and color. We had to use white letters and artwork on a green background. We couldn’t have them installed in areas governed by the state, such as right off the exits of Route 23. But with permission of the city and county, we were free to install them within the city limits and on county roads,” said Bellamy.
Of course, there are a great many sites within Marion that tourists come to town to see. Ohio Galvanizing decided to add directional signage to the Marion County Fairgrounds to the program.
“With the fair, all the events at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum and the Huber museum located there, it’s a destination for people all year long,” noted Bellamy. “We decided to just do these three destinations this year, with the thought of potentially expanding the program in future years. That, and we had to watch our budgets, too,” he said.
Signs need signposts, so Ohio Galvanizing recruited the assistance of Nucor Steel Marion, Inc. They donated the signposts for the project, and Ohio Galvanizing then galvanized the posts to weatherproof them and prevent them from rusting. “We were only too happy to assist in this community project,” said Steve Conway, highway products sales manager at the local Nucor steel mill. “It’s a great way to showcase one of our products, and to remind people of another point of local pride ─ that most of the U-channel steel signposts you see all over the country are manufactured right here in Marion,” he noted.
Ohio Galvanizing commissioned Badertscher Communications to design the signs.
“This directional signage project provided a fun little trip down ‘Memory Lane’ for the folks at our agency,” reminisced Steve Badertscher, president/creative director of the local ad agency. “We designed and created the existing Harding Memorial and Harding Home tourism signs over twenty years ago and are somewhat amazed at how well those signs have withstood the test of time. However, as they are beginning to show a little wear we feel honored to contribute once again to this important civic project, and hope the new contemporary new signs we’ve designed will have a similar lifespan to those being replaced. We also want to commend everyone involved in this community-minded effort for working together to improve the appearance of the place we all call home.”
The local advertising and PR firm also worked with city engineer James Bischoff to map out a plan for placement of the majority of the signs so that visitors entering the city from any direction or route could easily make their way to these locations. County engineer Bradley Irons was also involved in location recommendations.
Of course, administrators of the local destinations featured by these new signs are enthusiastic about them as well. Andy Harper, vice president student services and institutional advancement at Marion Technical College, who oversees both the Harding Memorial and the Harding Home, was very happy to hear about the project. “I thought, great! Replacing the old signs has been on my wish list for some time,” said Harper.
Diane Watson, director, Marion Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, has many visitors stop by needing directions.
“Now I can tell them to simply follow the signs. They look great and they’re reflective and easy to read, even at night,” Watson said. Sherry Hall, site manager at the Harding Home State Memorial, added “Visitors get lost all the time and call me. I end up on the phone with them guiding them to the Harding Home. The lack of signage to our site was one of the chief complaints I heard from visitors, so I’m very excited about these new signs.”
Candy Tripp, Marion County Fair and Coliseum Manager, sees the new signs as an economic plus for the community.
“50 to 60% of our guests who visit the Marion County Fairgrounds are from out of town. The signs become a selling point for our venue, especially the Coliseum. And the more people who visit Marion, the more who visit our restaurants, hotels, gas stations, and so on,” said Tripp, “and that’s a benefit to the whole community.”
The new signs have been delivered and installation will begin soon, and should be completed by the end of the summer. Watch for them as they start going up all over town.
Photo Caption: The desire to help area residents take pride in Marion is why Ohio Galvanizing Corporation created and donated new directional signs to be placed around our community. Pictured with the new signs are (L to R) Mayor Scott Schertzer; Diane Watson, director, Marion Area Convention and Visitors Bureau; Steve Badertscher, president, Badertscher Communications; Mike Tripp, Marion County Fair; Andy Harper, vice president student services and institutional advancement at Marion Technical College; Sherry Hall, site manager at the Harding Home State Memorial; Jay Murphy, sales manager, Ohio Galvanizing; and Steve Conway, signpost sales, Nucor Steel Marion, Inc.
