If all goes as planned, downtown Elizabethton will soon have its own gateway sign for the Tweetsie Trail.
Downtown businessman, Chris Cannon, presented his vision and design for the sign at Thursday’s Downtown Business Association meeting. The group unanimously approved the sign.
“We still have to complete the official approval process and the funding process,” Cannon said. “But I was pleased the DBA voted to approve the design. We are already busy fundraising.”
The gateway sign will mark the Tweetsie Trail’s entrance into Elizabethton’s downtown segment and would be placed over the trail somewhere between Estep Coal and the back of Dino’s and Cannon’s parking lot, near Elk Avenue, Cannon said.
The sign will cost at least $27,000 to build and install, but it will be an important addition because of the uniqueness of this point in the trail, Cannon said.
“This part of the trail is super unique,” he said. “Downtown Elizabethton is the only place where the trail touches a town naturally. We will have to make it a two-way sign, so it can be seen coming from the Hatcher Lane direction as well as from the west part of the trail.”
Cannon, who came up with the design, sketched it out and turned it over to Rod Snyder of Snyder Signs, who put Cannon’s vision onto paper. Inspired by the bicycles and the trail itself, it features natural stone and iron with bicycle silhouettes at the top corners. It will 24 feet wide and 22’7” tall.
“Snyder Signs will probably construct the sign, but we have a couple of other bids that we’re waiting on for some different designs and prices,” Cannon said.
Once funding is in place and approval is finalized, it will take about 60 days to build and install sign, Cannon said.
Anyone interested in making a contribution toward the construction of the gateway sign should contact Cannon at chris@cannonshomestore.com.