BELOIT – Two locally fabricated, custom signs now greet visitors as they arrive in Beloit.

Signage was identified as a major need through Strategic Doing discussions the K-State Extension First Impressions program.

The signs, made by Finn-Kool Machine and Fabrication, incorporate a new city logo. The original design for the project was completed by a Dane G. Hansen intern in the summer of 2019. Kollette Keeten worked with the Beloit signage committee to vet design ideas and locations.

Although the graphic actually cut into the signage changed, the materials, scale and overall concept remained. In the summer of 2023, Smoky Valley Economic Development intern Dinah Newman went out into the field (literally) to stake the signage locations.

A Hansen Foundation grant helped cover the costs of fabrication. Although the project took longer than anticipated, community response has been positive. The city hopes to install two more signs at the other entrances to the city.