Marysville gets the word out with new electronic sign
Published 10:31 pm Tuesday, October 6, 2009
MARYSVILLE — Community groups here now have another way of getting their word out, for free.
They can put their message in front of drivers and passengers in more than 14,000 vehicles each day on a new electronic reader board at the southeast corner of the intersection of Fourth Street and Cedar Avenue in downtown Marysville.
The $13,000 reader board, which was turned on in August, replaces a manual reader board that was there for about eight years, parks director Jim Ballew said.
It’s located on city property next to the parking lot for the caboose formerly used as an office by the Strawberry Festival.
The idea for the board came from a 2007 gateway study regarding how the city can promote itself, Ballew said. About $10,000 of the funds for the sign came from hotel-motel taxes collected in the city, he said. Under state law, the city can redistribute these tax dollars for promotion of nonprofit groups and tourism, Ballew said.
In this case, the City Council allocated the tax money to itself for the reader board, and spent about another $3,000 for labor and materials, Ballew said.
So far, about two dozen groups in the city, including service clubs, sports clubs, churches, the Marysville School District and the city itself have used the board to promote classes and other activities, he said.
The board is capable of running up to 300 messages a day, Ballew said.
When the city gets the funding, he said, it plans to implement more recommendations from the gateway study, such as welcome signs for drivers entering the city from I-5.
Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439; sheets@heraldnet.com.
Reader board
The city of Marysville reader board is available for nonprofit groups to promote their activities. An application form is available on the city Web site at www.ci.marysville.wa.us/ or at the city parks office at 6915 Armar Road in Jennings Park. Applications must be received two weeks prior to the requested posting date. Space is available on four lines,13 letters per line. Announcements run for two weeks. More info: 360-363-8400.
