Indigo Signworks Acquires Cook Sign Co.

Indigo Signworks Inc. (Fargo ND), a full-service, sign-production company, has purchased Cook Sign Co. from Knight LLC in February 2009. The acquisition expands Indigo’s business and the territory it serves. Indigo has locations in Fargo, Bismark and Grand Forks, ND, and Alexandria, MN.

Through the purchase, Indigo has hired 15 former Cook employees, including Brett Waldera as director of sales, Dave Selvig and Nick Cox as sales associates, and Brad Warkenthien as project manager. Indigo Signworks is a leading full-service sign production company.

Cook Sign Co., which was established in 1897, had been featured in Signs of the Times’ December 1922 issue and in the January 2006 issue (pp. 6 and 92). Founder Francis W. Cook had described in the former issue how he started in the business at age 14, then moved to Winnipeg and opened a glass-sign advertising shop. His 86 x 185-ft. plant had a separate commercial-sign department, bulletin studio, executive offices and storerooms. The Cook family sold the sign business in 1937. The decrease in billboards brought on by the 1965 Highway Beautification Act forced the company into electric signs and illuminated awnings. In 1978, Dick Walstad bought the company.