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History returns, legacy lives on
as Tropics sign lights up Lincoln’s night sky
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 [June 26, 2018]
LINCOLN
On Sunday evening temperatures were warm, but not uncomfortable, a
gentle breeze wafted across the McDonalds parking lot. As the sun
slowly descended into the western horizon it was a perfect evening
for welcoming home a Lincoln and Route 66 icon. More than 100 people
gathered around as the return of the Tropics sign was celebrated.
The sign, which for years and years identified the location of the
Tropics Coffee Shop, Dining Room and Cocktail Lounge had been
missing for a while. Some years ago it was taken down from its
original location, just a few feet from where it now stands. The
sign was stored by the city of Lincoln while plans were made and
money raised for a complete restoration project.
In 2017 the sign made its way to Ace Sign in Springfield, and the
work of bringing the sign back to its original glory began. Earlier
this month, the sign quietly came home and work was done to get the
lighting wired and the landscape cleaned up, all in preparation for
the celebration held this past Sunday evening.
People began gathering in the north parking lot at the local
McDonalds restaurant around 7 p.m. for a meet and greet reception
that would run from 7:15 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. Chairs were set up for
guests and many brought their lawn chairs, which was good, because
the available seats were not enough to hold the large number of
people who came to bear witness to the return of the sign.
Before the official program began at 7:45 p.m. there were
opportunities for family pictures at the foot of the sign. The Logan
County Tourism Bureau was manning a table where Tropics t-shirts
were being offered. The profits from the shirts would go to the
Tropics sign project.
Also on sale around the corner from the Tourism table, were Route 66
Hawaiian shirts being offered through the Route 66 Scenic Byways.
Everyone was given a flashing Route 66 sticker, with hopes that all
would don their stickers and flash their little lights in
celebration of the day. Also, Hawaiian attire had been encouraged
and many answered that call, wearing their best interpretation of
the festive, colorful, floral designs in their shirts and dresses.
Lei’s were being distributed, and everyone received souvenir Tropics
Matchbooks to keep as mementos of the day.
At 7:45 p.m. the program began with welcoming comments by Logan
County Tourism Director Cris Wibben. Wibben noted the large turnout
and expressed appreciation for all who had come out. She then
quickly moved on to say that there were a number of speakers, so she
would turn the microphone over to the first one, Geoff Ladd,
representing the Illinois Route 66 Scenic Byway and the Mill on
Route 66 Museum.
Ladd took the podium and said that his boss Bill Kelly was on hand
and would speak for the Byway. Ladd would then spend his time
sharing that he was the past president of the Route 66 Heritage
Foundation in Lincoln and that was the group responsible for saving
the Mill, which opened in 2017 as a Route 66 Museum.
He spoke about the collection of Tropics items at the Mill. He said
that part of the experience of the Tropics sign was to also come out
to check out the Mill. He noted that the Mill on this very day had
just received a booth from the Tropics. He called his comments a
“shameless promotion” of the Mill, but went on to say, “Thank you
all for making this a great opportunity for the city of Lincoln, and
just one of the tools in our tool kit for tourism. Thank you all so
much for coming out tonight. Long live the Tropics!”
At his conclusion, Ladd introduced Michelle Bauer, representing the
city of Lincoln. Bauer noted as she took the podium that she was a
member of the city council, but also a member of the committee that
had worked to get the sign restored. She noted, “This was a labor of
love for the committee.” She talked about the many hours spent
getting the project completed. She talked about the dedication of
the city, the Tourism Bureau and the Goodrich’s in getting the sign
back where it belonged in Lincoln. She also thanked “all our
partners” indicating the many people sitting at the foot of the
Tropics sign, who represented various groups, organizations, and
individuals involved in the project. She concluded by introducing
Tami Goodrich, “She is the love, the heart, and the soul of this
project, and I am honored to introduce her.”
Goodrich, who is the daughter of the original owners of the Tropics
– Lew and Bev Johnson, began by thanking everyone who had come out
to join in the celebration. She noted that among the crowd, she saw
many familiar faces, the faces of those who worked at the restaurant
at one time or another. She asked that all former Tropics employees
please stand and be recognized.
Goodrich said that her talk would offer some history of the sign.
The sign was made by the Herrin Sign Company in Jacksonville in
1956. It shone brightly on the city’s west side until 2004, when the
restaurant closed permanently.
“In 2014, the building and property were sold, but we knew we needed
to preserve the sign. We came to an agreement with the city of
Lincoln and the Logan County Tourism Bureau and the sign was donated
by the Johnson family to the city until the time when it could be
refurbished, and then it would become the property of the Logan
County Tourism Bureau.”
In May of 2014, the sign was removed from the property by Ace Sign
Company, and was placed in storage by the city of Lincoln. Goodrich
thanked the city and Street Superintendent Walt Landers for
providing that storage until the funds could be raised for the
restoration.
“We stumbled in the beginning, and the project was brought to life
again by Bill Thomas. I will tell you many times over and to as many
people as will listen to me, that without Bill Thomas, this would
not have happened. The passion that he gave to this project, the
love that he gave to this project cannot be measured; so, many, many
thanks to Bill Thomas.”
Goodrich said that in April of 2017 the Tropics building was taken
down to make way for the new McDonalds that today stands in the
Tropics location. She expressed her great appreciation to Jack Milan
and Michael Petro and McDonalds for working with the group to bring
the sign back to the property and noted that without them allowing
the sign at this specific location, grant funding received for the
project would not have been possible.
On June 27th, 2017, the sign was transported to Springfield where
the Bringuet family at Ace Sign Company began the restoration of the
sign. She said that the entire Bringuet family had invested in this
“labor of love.”
“I’ve had many people tell me how proud my parents would be of this
day, and I agree. But I want you to know that they would also be so
humbled by the show of love and support that we have received. My
parents always understood where the business came from. They
depended on the residents of Lincoln and Logan County. They never
forgot that. They made a point of giving back to the community,
never really seeking any attention for their generosity. My brothers
and I grew up in the restaurant. We learned the best of life’s
lessons at the Tropics. We are the people that we are because of our
parents, the people we worked with, and the people we served. For
that we are entirely grateful.”
Goodrich offered thanks and recognition to Bill Hoagland, former
director of the Logan County Tourism Bureau for helping to get the
project off the ground. She recognized Michelle Bauer with the city
of Lincoln and noted that Bauer was also a close friend. She thanked
Cris Wibben and Morgan Gleason of the Tourism Bureau and also the
Tourism Bureau on the whole, as well as the city of Lincoln and her
family.
Goodrich said, “I need to say thank you to my husband (Bill
Goodrich) because he has been totally supportive of me through this
process. If there was a glitch somewhere along the line, he seemed
to have an answer for us. He did it with humor, with intelligence,
and with passion.”
Goodrich next introduced Bill Thomas.
Thomas opened, “Whenever a project like this is undertaken, it has a
number of moving parts. In this case at least, it is one of those
situations where it is not so much what you know as who you know.”
Bill Thomas said that was why he was honored and pleased to
introduce Illinois State Representative Tim Butler. He said, “If not
for Tim, we never would have gotten connected with the folks at
McDonalds, and had that first of many, many dominoes fall that
needed to fall.”
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Representative Butler spoke about how wonderful it was to see this
iconic piece of Lincoln come home and how exciting it was to see so
many people gathered in the celebration. He noted that he was a
former Lincoln resident who ate at the Tropics on more than one
occasion. “This is a beautiful thing and you all know it.”
Butler explained that he had helped the restoration group make
connections with McDonalds and Jack Milan and Michael Petro. Butler,
Milan, Petro, and Thomas had met for coffee, sitting in the old
McDonald’s restaurant, Thomas and Butler had shared their vision for
the Tropics sign and had talked about the importance of bringing it
back to a spot very close to its original location.
He noted, “This is great to see how people work together to get
things done.” He noted the efforts of Thomas and Bill Kelly with the
Illinois Route 66 Scenic Byway. Butler also acknowledged and
congratulated the private individuals, the city of Lincoln, Tourism
Bureau and others who joined together. He said it was a great
example of how that government and community can work together to
accomplish something great.
Butler quoted a favorite song, “The road goes on forever and the
party never ends.” He said, “As you look out tonight, this road
(Route 66) will go on forever, and as I see everyone in their
Hawaiian shirts and the lei’s tonight, the party never ends.” Giving
kudos to Geoff Ladd, and copying his words, Butler finished by
saying “Long live the Tropics!”
Thomas returned to the podium and noted that among the many people
who said ‘yes’ for this project, the folks at McDonalds were among
the most important. He recounted that as he, Butler and others left
that first meeting with Milan and Petro, “I told the folks I was
with ‘Oh my gosh, we’ve got to leave now, because they said yes to
everything we asked for so far.”
Thomas then introduced Jack Milan and Michael Petro. The original
McDonalds, located behind the Tropics sign, was purchased by Jack
Milan in 1991. Milan noted, “This community has been fantastic to
us. We’ve grown to 15 restaurants now and it wouldn’t have happened
without all of you. When we were approached and asked if we could
help, it wasn’t a matter of ‘if’ it was ‘how,’ so thank you for all
the support over the years. If it wasn’t for you we would not be
able to be part of this.”
Michael Petro spoke saying that he was excited that he and the local
McDonald’s have been able to continue this legacy of the Tropics. He
noted that the legacy lives not just in Lincoln and Logan County,
but that the sign and the restaurant have been a part of the lives
of people throughout central Illinois and even throughout the
country. He said that the Tropics is embedded in the memories of
many people and now it will continue to be a memory for the future.
He ended saying, “Let the memories live on!”
Thomas returned to the stage and as part of the next speaker
introduction talked about the complexity of applying for a grant
that involves historic preservation. He noted that there are many
rules in any grant application, and for this type of grant, the
rules include that the object to be restored has to be returned to
its original location. Thomas said that because the committee
couldn’t put it exactly where it had originally been, there was a
dispensation they could use in their application. To achieve that
dispensation, he said that it was Carol Dyson with the Illinois
Department of Natural Resources who came to Lincoln on a very cold
day and stepped off the footage between the old location and new and
decided that “yes, that was close enough.”
(It should be noted that when the project began Thomas and the
committee were working with the Illinois Historic Preservation
Agency, which since then has been merged into the Illinois
Department of Natural Resources.)
IDNR Assistant Director Dyson spoke briefly. She noted that she was
“thrilled to be here, and to see all of you here in support of this
sign, your county, and Route 66 as well.” She said that her role was
in writing a letter to the National Park Service for the $13,000
grant. She said she wanted to tell them that the sign was being
placed as close as possible to its original location and that it was
still spaced adjacent to Route 66 as it had been at its first
location. She said it was wonderful that McDonalds, the family,
Tourism, the city and the county had all joined together to preserve
this part of local history.
Todd Bringuet was the next person to be introduced. He was on hand
representing the four generations of Bringuet’s who own and operate
Ace Sign Company and who did the magnificent work on the sign. “This
was truly a labor of love.” He mentioned that Ace Sign has a sign
museum at the facility in Springfield, and there are four
generations of Bringuets who honor historic signs daily through the
museum and their work. He concluded, “Every restoration that takes
place, it is truly an honor to be a part of.”
The last person to be introduced was Executive Director of the
Illinois Route 66 Scenic Byway Program Bill Kelly. As part of the
introduction, Thomas noted that Kelly had assisted with fundraising
and had also offered technical advice and assistance throughout the
process.
Kelly said that he wanted to point out “this is something that
people are going to stop and take selfies of and I hope spend lots
of money at McDonalds, and in Lincoln, because that is what this is
about, economic development. He brought up, as had Tim Butler, that
we are approaching the 100th anniversary of Route 66 coming in 2026.
He noted that Butler was the one who introduced state legislation
that allowed Illinois to be the first state to pass a resolution
creating a Route 66 Centennial Commission, allowing the state plenty
of time to get ready for the upcoming celebration. He said this
would allow Illinois, “to get ready, because the world is going to
show up for this.”
Goodrich returned to the podium and named off all those who had
donated $1,000 or more to the restoration project.
When the naming of donors was completed, Thomas invited family
members of Lew and Bev Johnson to come gather around a large toggle
that had been placed near the podium. As they all gathered he called
for the audience to do a countdown from five to one, and the switch
was pulled with as many hands on it as could reach. A roar went up
from the audience as the neon glowed in its brilliant gold, green
and red.
As the sun dipped low, the glow of the newly restored sign was
overwhelming; as were the emotions coming from family, committee
members and the audience. People immediately pulled out their
cameras and worked to grab the perfect “first shot” of the sign.
Thomas brought the program to an official end thanking everyone for
their attendance and noting, “Folks, this is not the end. This is
not the end of this project, this is only the beginning as the real
work begins now in terms of leveraging this sign in order to attract
folks to Lincoln and Logan County. That is why we did it, we did it
to preserve it, and then use it to everyone’s benefit. That is why
we did it, so help spread the word about it!”
[Nila Smith]
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