New letters bring Pateros sign closer to completion

PATEROS – On April 11 last year, an excavator from BTO Construction began moving the first scoopfuls of earth at the site for the new Pateros sign along the east side of U.S. Route 97 south of Pateros. Last Friday, April 27, a crew from BTO Construction in Pateros applied the three-foot-high letters to the 20-foot-wide concrete backdrop as progress on the new installation continues with a completion date in time for the 71st Apple Pie Jamboree on July 20-22.
The new sign will replace the original 24-foot-by-36-foot wooden original that was destroyed in the July 2014 Carlton Complex wildfire.
The Pateros Chamber of Commerce set to work following the fire on a campaign to rebuild the iconic welcome fixture that was the first thing drivers saw as they approached Pateros from the south on Highway 97. A sign committee was formed to come up with a new design, volunteers and donors brought on board to help with materials, construction, and negotiations opened with the state Department of Transportation to relocate the sign.
A GoFundMe account (www.gofundme.com/paterossignfund) was established to raise the estimated $20,000 to cover project costs.
Still to come on the fireproof concrete, metal and stone structure will be boulders and river rock around the base and solar lighting to help illuminate the sign during nighttime hours, said Pateros Chamber secretary Joni Parks.
“Jamboree is the goal!” Parks said.