The new city sign at the Wasa junction is certainly hard to miss. It’s large, it’s red and it has a simple message: An arrow points in the direction of Kimberley on 95A — good times. An arrow directs you east and south on Highway 95 — everything else.
The sign is directed specifically to tourists, says Mayor Don McCormick.
“We want to provide a message to tourists, it’s an effort to get them to check Kimberley out. The fact is that people these days travel point to point. They are using GPS, and GPS tells you to bypass Kimberley because its not on the major highway. We need to give them a reason to go to Kimberley.”
The message ‘good times’ is nebulous as well, McCormick says, not pointing out any specific activities.
“Good times is a catch phrase for Gen X and Gen Y. This is designed to drive visitors to Kimberley. We need a simple message. The message is good, it doesn’t dis Cranbrook. There’s lots of good in ‘everything else’.
“We had requested having new directional signage put at Wasa almost a year ago and we still don’t have that up. We are still dealing with Highways. We just wanted a sign saying you could still access Cranbrook through Kimberley.”
What it comes down to is that Kimberley has four billboards and they have had them for a number of years. There’s one at the Wasa turnoff, one on the way in to Cranbrook, one from the south and one between Kimberley and Marysville. They were old and faded and needed to be reskinned, McCormick says.
There are four different signs, all with simple themes.
Will any feathers be ruffled by them?
“Only if it is taken way too seriously,” he said. “We are fighting the GPS routes and need something catchy to get the attention of tourists who have the time to head to Cranbrook/Hwy 3 through Kimberley.”