By Sue Moore
Thanks to the spring golf outing sponsored by the Vicksburg Downtown Development Authority (DDA), enough money was raised to pay for new signs that points the way to the heart of the business district.
Authority board Secretary Mary Ruple took the lead organizing a golf outing at Angels Crossing with the promise that any profits would be plowed into fresh new signs at strategic locations driving into the village. The wayfinding signs, located on incoming major streets such as W Avenue, VW Avenue and Richardson Street, all point to the downtown business district. They also point to parking lots scattered throughout the business district.
Don Weirtella, a retired Michigan Department of Transportation administrator who lives in the Vicksburg area, helped Ruple and her committee design the signs and map out location for each. The cost was $2,500, with Rathco Safety & Supply of Portage hired to do the installation.
The Vision Campaign mounted two years ago to improve the downtown listed erecting signs as one of its goals. John DeBault, Jim Mallery, Julie Merrill, Ruple and Weirtella, all DDA board members, served on the committee that worked through the logistics of ordering and placing the signs.