BRISTOL, Va. – Usually, Bristol YMCA Chief Operating Officer John Mack spends his time begging fellow residents to cut back on sweets and stick to healthy foods.
But on Friday evening, Mack stood with hundreds of fellow residents in the Bristol Train Station’s jam-packed lobby, waiting to eat a slice of a 550-pound cake made by the Southeast Culinary School to honor the 100th anniversary of the Bristol Slogan Sign on State Street.
“Hey, I can walk this cake off tomorrow,” Mack said with a laugh, as a barbershop group harmonized in the background. “But this is a special occasion. A really special occasion.”
That was a fitting description for the day-long celebration held Friday on State Street to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the landmark “BRISTOL VA TN – A GOOD PLACE TO LIVE” sign, which straddles the line separating the two states.
The party was highlighted by a dusk lighting of the sign’s 1,332 bulbs– complete with a New Year’s Eve-style countdown – and a lengthy fireworks display that boomed across downtown.
“This sign has been more than just a sign for our cities,” said Tim Buchanan, chairman of the Bristol Slogan Sign Centennial Committee. “It’s also a statement about our character. Because Bristol IS a good place to live.”
The sign was first erected in 1910 on the side of Interstate Hardware, but was moved to its present State Street site in 1915. Standing some 53 feet above State Street, the metal frame sign was given its current “A GOOD PLACE TO LIVE” slogan in 1921, as part of a naming contest by a local advertising firm.
Among its various honors, the Bristol Slogan Sign is part of the National Register of Historic Places, winning that status in 1988.
Lifelong Bristol, Tenn., native Marie Carrier, 78, smiled broadly while noting how the State Street sign has been a part of her life for, well, life.
“It’s always made me proud to be from Bristol, seeing that sign and how beautiful it looks at night,” Carrier said. “It might be 100 years old, but it’s still just as special as the first time I saw it.”
The dusk lighting ceremony at the nearby Bristol Train Station, attended by hundreds, also held special meaning for Vicki Shepherd-Stockton, a Bristol, Tenn., native who moved back to the city two years ago after 20 years in Savannah, Ga.
“To me, that sign is a symbol of just being back home,” Shepherd-Stockton said. “I’m just happy to see it being honored and celebrated this way.”
Tod Swormstedt, founder of the American Sign Museum in Cincinnati, said the Bristol sign is a striking and beautiful survivor of the “pre-neon” sign era – a period between 1900 and the 1920s when most signs were lit by light bulbs.
“There’s not a lot of signs around that are 100 years old, and the ones that are certainly aren’t in as good shape as this one,” Swormstedt said during a Friday afternoon presentation at the Train Station.
“We really applaud what Bristol has done, because it’s a really progressive approach,” Swormstedt said. “While most cities are trying to restrict new signs and tear down old ones, you’re holding a celebration for yours. That’s wonderful.”
rbrown@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2512
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