Shining Sterling

Towering or unusually designed LED messageboard signage dominates entertainment and commercial meccas such as Las Vegas and NYC’s Times Square. However, these displays’ positive impact rarely permeates small-town enterprises, where codes may preclude them or corporate decisionmakers don’t see their properties as appropriate for or worthy of such grandiose environmental graphics.

Bucking this trend, the consortium of businessmen who own Poplar Bluff, MO’s Sterling Bank immediately realized the potential of a dynamic display to optimize recognition at its location which enjoys consistent traffic from four directions. The owners contacted Cape Girardeau, MO-based General Sign Co. to develop a monument sign that would deliver maximum exposure. After several meetings, General’s sales and design team reached a consensus with Sterling’s management to accentuate the bank’s unique architecture – a wide, silo-shaped turret provides a distinctive entry atrium – with a majestic, 40-ft.-tall tower visible from all directions. The tower comprises steel angle frame sheathed by multiple layers of Dibond® composite material.

The tower’s graphics feature a stainless-steel, edgelit, .063-in. aluminum channel letter, painted black and illuminated with 6500K white neon, facing each of the tower’s four corners. Electrobits Slimpack transformers power the neon. Also, an acrylic-faced, analog clock with a black, first-surface vinyl face powered by a National Time and Signal Corp. master controller tells the city’s approximately 18,000 residents the time.

Most importantly, a wraparound messageboard display that wraps around the tower comprises its central component. General used Optec Displays boards to provide the wraparound display. Eight-in.-diameter PVC pipe joins the displays to the tower.