New tourism, gateway and directional signage should start showing up in Saugeen Shores this Spring.
Bruce County Tourism Manager Chris Hughes says they’re just about ready to roll out the pilot project — which includes gateway signs for Port Elgin and Southampton.
The Southampton sign had been sent back to the drawing board a couple of times during the past year.
The new design keeps an image of the Chantry Island Lighthouse and the “Oldest Port on the Bruce Coast” slogan.
Plans for other signage include parks, beaches, and community centres.
There could eventually be illuminated overhead street signs at major intersections.
Councillor Diane Huber wants to be sure places like the Southampton tourist information centre aren’t overlooked.
Mayor Mike Smith says agreeing on the signage design has taken a long time, but now there’s a manual and guidelines, and it will be exciting to see the signs going up.
A pilot signage program is also planned for Kincardine.
Bruce County was not successful in getting a grant from the province for the signage this time around, but Hughes says they’re going to keep trying.
Ultimately, it’s up to council to decide how much of the signage manual should be implemented and how fast it should happen.
Saugeen Shores set 75 thousand dollars aside in 2008 to get the project started.
Hughes says signs could start to go up “as soon as the frost is out of the ground” in the Spring.
He says the setback in further provincial funding isn’t halting plans to eventually introduce new signage to all Bruce County municipalities.
Hughes says they plan to work with other municipalities to roll out the system, and a pilot project to test new signage will hopefully happen somewhere on the county road system this year.