Green Man Holiday Lights (GMHL) got the call to light up the “Wallingford” sign atop the Wallingford QFC.  It was a tricky install… but a good story in hind sight.  Our customer didn’t want anything glued or permanently affixed to the sign, i.e. our trustee light clips.  We thought we would use some industrial strength, rare earth magnets to attach the lights.  Great idea! But it turns out that only half of the signs letters cowling was made of steel. The other half was made of aluminum (magnets don’t stick to aluminum).  Who would build a sign like that?  I asked around and got a quick history lesson from some Wallingford old timers.  Here is a clip from a Seattle Times article confirming what we found out in the field. 

“For 40 years the big red neon block letters spelling FOOD GIANT extended nearly the length of the roof. It and the Grandma’s Cookies sign on North 34th Street were the Wallingford neighborhood’s principal pop symbols.

When QFC bought the store in the late 1990s and tried to ditch the symbol for its own, a protest from the store’s neighbors brought the compromise we see in Jean Sherrard’s “now.” By recycling seven of the old sign’s big letters, a new and blue sign of equal grandeur and iconic appeal took its place. It named the neighborhood.” 

Washington Then and Now,” by Paul Dorpat and Jean Sherrard, can be purchased for $45 through Tartu Publications at P.O. Box 85208, Seattle, WA 98145.

Copyright © 2009 The Seattle Times Company

GMHL ended up using a temporary double stick tape and got the job done! But wait… there’s more.  After hours of testing the display the day before, when it came time to light it up in front of a crowd of local Wallingfordians something happened.  Or didn’t happen for that matter.  When Randy the owner of GMHL threw the switch only half of the display light up.  How could this happen?  Luckily Randy was quick on his feet and chased down the unplugged wire.  Were we set up?  Or is the sign lighting ceremony cursed?  As history would have it the same thing happened when the sign was reinstalled Feb 10, 2010 after the QFC remodel was complete.  Cursed or just a coincidence?  You be the judge. 

Press Links about GMHL ‘10 

QFC Relighting the Wallingford Sign Feb 10, 2010:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1TbToCoNAg 

GMHL flips the switch on the Wallingford sign holiday lights:  http://www.mywallingford.com/2010/12/05/video-wallingford-sign-gets-holiday-lights/

GMHL Article in My Wallingford Blog:  http://www.mywallingford.com/2010/12/04/details-on-holiday-lighting-of-wallingford-sign/

GMHL Video Interview for North Seattle Herald article:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENDMKNPtjiE