Cracked, peeling and sun-damaged, the 15-year-old signs welcoming visitors to the Pahrump Valley and thanking them for making the trip are now set for replacement, with the Nye County Commission, sitting as the governing body for the town, voting to select a brand new design for said signs at its Feb. 19 meeting.
The commission had four separate designs to choose from that morning, each offering a different shape and message.
Option 1 was a single layer sign, roughly rectangular in shape that read “Welcome to True Nevada. Pahrump” and “Thank You for Visiting. Pahrump, true Nevada”.
Option 2 came with the same shape and the addition of a second layer. Option 2 stated “Welcome to Adventure. Pahrump, true Nevada” with the thank you sign’s language the same as option 1.
Option 3 offered “Welcome to Adventure, Pahrump, true Nevada” along with the town’s tourism website and a graphic of a hot air balloon. Option 3’s exit signs stated “Thank You for Visiting, Pahrump, true Nevada, Drive Safe”.
It was option 4 however that captured the unanimous approval of the county commission.
The new welcome design approved on Feb. 19 promotes the phrase “Welcome to Pahrump, true Nevada” and also plugs the town’s tourism website visitpahrump.com. When exiting the town, drivers will see signs that read “Thank You for Visiting. Pahrump, true Nevada, Drive Safe”. Both contain the color scheme the town has adopted as its brand, bright orange and blue. The signs also feature a second layer in the shape in Nevada that pops out from the main body of the sign.
Entry points on North Highway 160, South Highway 160, West Bell Vista Road and West Highway 372 are the four locations at which the signage will be replaced. The project includes only the signs themselves, with the existing bases to be utilized.
The signs are to be purchased from High Impact Signs and Designs, located in Henderson. According to information provided with the agenda item, the design selected by the Nye County Commission, option 4, comes with a price tag of $30,708.19 for a total of eight new signs, four “welcome” signs, and four “thank you for visiting” signs.
Two other possible vendors, both based in Pahrump, were approached about doing the job as well. However, emails from the owners of the companies, Quality Signs and Designs and Cutting Edge Designs, stated that they were unfortunately unable to fulfill the order to the specs required by the town.
A grant from the Nevada Commission on Tourism is pending and may help absorb some of the cost, with a total of $15,000 in grant funding applied for by the town. If the grant is successfully secured, the remaining $16,000 in cost is to be covered by the town’s room tax fund, which would also cover the entire cost if the grant is not awarded to the town.
The signs are to measure 8 feet tall by 12 feet wide and be made from .080 aluminum panels that have been electrostatic coated as a layer of protection.
As for a time line of when residents and visitors to the valley will be greeted by the new signs, town officials said they should be in place no later than the end of June.
“The welcome signs are on a grant,” Town of Pahrump Executive Assistant Alex Crow told the Pahrump Valley Times. “The grants will be awarded at the end of March. We have between March and June 30 to get them ready.”
Crow noted that once the town is all prepared to install the new signs, she would reach out to ensure the media and public are notified.
Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at rhebrock@pvtimes.com