The City of Newberry has erected a new welcome sign at the edge of its urban service area at the corner of NW 202nd St. and Newberry Rd. Though the sign is structurally complete, it still needs last touches of landscaping, lighting and masonry.
The sign features Newberry’s logo of stylized farm fields, a reference to the town’s rural and agricultural nature. Project Manager Armon Lowery said the logo is relatively new, within the last few years, but it is the same one displayed on the water tower.
Newberry staff began working on the project almost two years ago, according to Lowery. The city commission chose to place the sign as a gateway monument marking entry into the Urban Services Area instead of the city limit. As Newberry expands, the Urban Services area will be more recognizably developed, while the city has chosen to discourage developers from changing the farmland outside that boundary.
“It’s good to see it’s coming to completion,” Lowery said in a phone interview.
The city of Newberry’s Facebook page posted photos of the sign’s progress around midday Monday, and citizens quickly took to the comments section.
“Proud of Newberry! The graphic represents our agricultural roots. Nice job,” Joy Walton Glanzer replied in the Facebook comments.
“I think it looks great !!!!” Rose Valdes wrote.
Most feedback in the Facebook comments was similarly positive, but a few citizens were frustrated about the sign’s placement, design and funding.
“We had [a sign] that represented the culture of the area,” Devan Hodge wrote, “[and] it was replaced with clip art- probably with hard earned money from the people who hate it the most… to attract more people with different beliefs and interests.”
“Looks great but would’ve been nicer to put that money into the roads, such as 337/282ND STREET,” Katlyn Jennings commented.
The city responded to tell Jennings that 337 is owned by the county. When another commenter mentioned NW 266 St., the city notified her that street is planned to undergo “major road improvements” in 2025.