Welcome Sign Program

WESTWOOD RECREATION DEPARTMENT LAUNCHES 

NEW WELCOME TO WESTWOOD SIGN PROGRAM

NOW SEEKING RESIDENT AND BUSINESS SPONSORS!

Westwood, NJ, January 2021: “Welcome to Westwood” are the words that may greet visitors, shoppers, and others entering the municipality if the new “Westwood Municipal Sign Program” takes hold.

 In October 2019, Recreation Director Gary Buchheister developed the Program and had two sizes of signs in mind. Then a few months ago, the Municipal Government approved the Program and Mr. Buchheister asked Councilman Emeritus Peter Grefrath to bring it to fruition.

 According to Buchheister, “The focus of our program is to place approximately 10 or so “Welcome to Westwood” signs at most of the entrances to town. We have two sizes of signs available for sponsorship depending upon the locations where the signs will be placed. The first of the signs was erected in mid-December at the intersection of Third and Fourth Avenues in front of Girl Scout Park. That way, people coming into Westwood from Lincoln, Ackerman or Forest will see it.”

 The “sponsorship” Buchheister was alluding to is the key and unique element of the plan in which each Welcome sign would have a smaller but similar  “sponsored by” sign underneath it. With only one contributor per sign, the Municipal Sign Program would be self-sustaining, similar to the Municipal Bench Program. Since inception, the Municipal Bench Program has installed 43 municipal and memorial benches at five Westwood parks for a net savings to taxpayers of $73,700.

Buchheister chose Grefrath to spearhead the initiative because he desired consistency and for more than a decade, Westwood’s Municipal Bench Program has done just that. All donated Municipal Benches must adhere to a coordinated plan, and Buchheister envisions the same concept for the “Welcome to Westwood” signage initiative. Two sizes, one look. 

Anyone who would like to obtain a detailed brochure regarding the program, which includes photographs of the available site locations, can do so at the Westwood Clerk’s Office in the Municipal Center or the Recreation Department in the Westwood Community Center. Brochures also can be examined on-line via the Westwood Municipal and Recreation websites. 

Brochure:  2021 Westwood Sign Program Brochure

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Contact: Peter Grefrath, 201-913-9598, peter.grefrath@gmail.com or call the Recreation Department at 201-664-7882 for more information