Iconic Minnesota Sign To Light Once Again

The new sign atop the Kahler Grand Hotel in downtown Rochester, MN is in its final phase of a logistically challenging refurbishment. Most changes to the sign won’t be noticeable at all. Custom scaffolding was also necessary to ensure safety and make the project feasible — according to MPR News.

During late October, the old letters that had been rusted and worn down were lowered down the side of the building, while new letters were lifted up. The sign’s three huge sides can be seen from every direction but west, and one hangs 14 feet off the side of the top story of the hotel. 

“We’ve been talking about replacing the sign for several years, the biggest challenge was access to it,” Josh Johnson, who is overseeing the project as Kahler’s director of engineering and facilities, is quoted. Johnson said that the official lighting will happen sometime this month. As a Rochester native, he said getting the sign right was important to him. “For people like myself and my friends, family who have lived their whole lives, the skyline just wouldn’t look the same without the Kaler sign lit up downtown.”

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