Masterton: Time of the signs

NEW LOOK:New signs erected at Masterton's northern end yesterday

New signs welcoming travellers to Masterton are now in place at both the northern and southern entrances to town, bearing the same inscription as previous signs but colour coded differently and mounted on tanalised timber poles.

Standing close by are pou which tower above the signs and are yet to be unveiled at a special ceremony, and blessing.

Yesterday workmen erected the welcome signs which bear inscriptions in English and Maori. A brisk north westerley wind in the afternoon forced the wrapping on one of several symbols on the northern pou to part company with the pou, revealing what appears to be a representation of a light aircraft.

Visitors arriving in Masterton from the north should be left in no doubt as to which town they are approaching.

The pair of new welcome signs are just two of four within a kilometre that extend a welcome.

The others are a welcome sign with sister city information, supporting Trust House advertising and only a few metres further on is a 50km/h sign with the inscription "Welcome to Masterton" below it.

Erecting the new welcome signs comes after a long, and rather difficult birth as the district council's decision to install them, and also to construct Po resulted in some fierce community debate.

In late 2011 council acknowledged the need for new signs and predicted the issue would become a hot potato with wide ranging opinions throughout the community as to what message they should include.

In May last year, after the results of a " signage audit" were analysed and a review carried out by a communications strategy task group, a design was settled on, and the Sign Factory produced them at no expense to council.

Those signs carried the same welcome message as the more elaborate version put in place yesterday.