“Welcome to Wyoming” is getting a new postcard look at every highway entrance to the state featuring bold, colorful photographs from around the Cowboy State.
The Wyoming Department of Transportation designed the new signs to look great in millions of pictures that are expected to be taken at them by visitors at all points around Wyoming.
And what happens to the old “Welcome to Wyoming” signs? Those will likely fetch thousands of dollars at auction.
The first of the new “Welcome to Wyoming” signs was installed along U.S. Highway 85 south of Cheyenne, and more were put up Wednesday on Highway 120 north of Cody and U.S. Highway 310 near Frannie.
Doug McGee, WYDOT’s Public Affairs Officer, said the design accomplishes everything it needs to and more.
“If you're just driving by, ‘Welcome to Wyoming’ is very legible at highway speeds,” he told Cowboy State Daily. “And if you're stopping to pose under or near the sign, you get a little postcard of Wyoming to go with your photograph.”
No Longer Licensed
Historically, Wyoming has replaced its “Welcome to Wyoming" signs every eight years. McGee said this followed the same cycle for Wyoming’s license plate designs.
“The current sign matches the current license plate,” he said. “But as the license plate was changing, which is required, that's usually the time to change the welcome signs.”
The signs were last replaced in 2017, the last time Wyoming’s license plate was changed. With the new “Welcome to Wyoming” signs, WYDOT decided to break with this precedent.
“We decided it's possible to get more than eight years out of a sign,” McGee said. “So, let's break away from matching the license plate and do something different.”
WYDOT formed a committee with representatives from its sign shops and traffic programs, district representatives, executive staff and a representative from the Wyoming Office of Tourism to brainstorm a new look for “Welcome to Wyoming.”
McGee said the new sign was designed to appeal to everyone but be particularly alluring to tourists — and the huge number of digital photos they take.
“A lot of people stop and take their photos at these signs,” he said. “When you come and go across the state line, you see a lot of people stop and take their photo with the sign.”
Cody Beers, a WYDOT spokesperson, thinks the new design is a refreshing and photogenic update for the Cowboy State’s points of entry. He believes the “Welcome to Wyoming” signs are among the most popular in the state.
“People love these signs,” he said. “I would stake at least $1 that it’s the second most popular sign for photos in Wyoming, behind the Yellowstone National Park entry signs.”
‘Where To’ Wyoming
The new “Welcome to Wyoming” signs feature five images of iconic Wyoming places: the Grand Tetons, Devils Tower, Medicine Bow Peak, Devil's Gate and Flaming Gorge.
It’s more than just a collection of photos. McGee said the images are placed in the same area of the sign as they are in the state.
“We settled on five different images from five different parts of the state, and they roughly coincide with these locations,” he said. “You have northwest, northeast, southeast, southwest and central Wyoming represented on each one.”
The signs have been printed by a TrafficJet Print System, a digital traffic sign printer with a lot of potential for WYDOT. With the technological advances in printing and materials, McGee is confident the new signs will have more longevity than the outgoing ones.
“These printers can print photographic quality images,” he said. “When you see the signs, they're still clear even though they have five separate images. That kind of printing ability on reflective sign material is amazing, and it's cheaper and more flexible than the old materials used to be.”
McGee finds the durability and visibility of the new “Welcome to Wyoming” signs encouraging for future WYDOT sign projects.
“Just like a lot of our work, as materials approve, longevity comes along with that,” he said. “The ‘Welcome to Wyoming’ signs show a lot of potential for future signs, and that’s a great thing.”
Welcome To A Windfall
Anyone nostalgic for the outgoing “Welcome to Wyoming” signs will have a chance to get one, but there’s a national market for the iconic signs.
McGee said the retired signs will eventually appear on publicsurplus.com and go up for auction. This was a lucrative decision for WYDOT when the agency sold the last batch of “Welcome to Wyoming” signs in 2017.
“We sold five signs, one from each of the five districts, for a little over $33,000,” he said. “The highest went for $10,000, the lowest went for $4,400, and there was some robust bidding for all of them.”
Two of the five signs were won by a Midwesterner who traveled to Cheyenne to pick them up. The money from the public auction will go back into WYDOT’s budget to add or replace signage statewide.
McGee said WYDOT will announce the opening of bidding for the outgoing signs on publicsurplus.com. However, that will not happen until all five districts remove and replace the signs and deliver them to Cheyenne.
A Fresh Look
McGee hopes all the new “Welcome to Wyoming” signs will be installed before the weather completely turns, although the ongoing effort to contain the Elk and Pack Trail Fires has delayed some installations.
“Right now, the ground isn't too wet from the rainy season and isn't too frozen from the winter,” he said. “We’re in that sweet spot, so they'll probably be installed within the next four to five weeks, if possible.”
Beers said the signs at Frannie and Clark near the Montana state line have already been installed. Plenty of people are already pulling over to snap a photo with the new signs to show they’ve reached Wyoming.
“We always try to give Wyoming a fresh look,” he said. “It’s a big state with thousands of unique things that make it special. So why not use those things to show our state to visitors and the people that live here? Wyoming people love those ‘Welcome to Wyoming signs’ too.”
Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.
