Grand Island Veterans of Foreign Wars displays new sign

Story and Photos by Alice Gerard

Senior Contributing Writer

The VFW’s upcoming lobster fest, scheduled for Sept. 13, is advertised in color and images on the post’s new LED digital messaging sign. The images are visible on both sides of the sign.

On Aug. 22, that digital messaging sign was formally dedicated at the Charles N. DeGlopper Memorial Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9249, 2121 Grand Island Blvd.

According to Post Cmdr. Dale Berger, “We are acknowledging the people that helped us do the sign. The sign is very expensive, but our old sign was broken, and we need a way to communicate with the world. We don’t really have that way, so the sign is what we came up with.

“We needed the sign very badly. We don’t have any other way of communicating with the outside world. We need to let them know we’re having a lobster fest coming up here on Sept. 13. We want to sell 200 lobsters this time. We sold 160, I believe, last time. We’ve got Oktoberfest (on Sept. 20), which is always very popular. And there’s trunk and treat. There are all sorts of things coming up, and we want to let people know.”

Nick Stern of NAS Sign Co. said this sign “was a very important project to us because we don’t see a sign as a sign. We see it as a message board for a community. This is how you tell everyone around you what’s going on and how important your business and how important your message is. What is your vision? How do you have the whole neighborhood see your vision through a sign?

“It’s a very fun job. I like doing things like this because we get to give (customers) such a good price, for firehalls and towns and all kinds of other communities. We want to do it for them.

“We build them, manufacture them. We configure them and program them. It’s a beautiful display that allows us to send any kind of graphic from faces to fruit.

“I’m an Eagle Scout. I’m also a Cub Scout master. Getting the message out to the community about doing honest work. These guys are doing it for free. They’re doing it as a good service to the community. How do you let people know? We can make a pretty picture about lobsters.”

Individuals and businesses that helped make the sign possible, Berger said, include the Ford family, Mark Gollwitzer, Brady Electric, AM Vets, VFW Auxiliary and Pinnacle Staffing.

A new digital sign at the VFW advertises the upcoming lobster fest.