Northwest Arkansas Wayfinding Signs Inspire Other Cities

STAFF PHOTO JASON IVESTER Traffic passes a “wayfinding” sign at the intersection of Second and Walnut streets on June 27 in downtown Rogers.
STAFF PHOTO JASON IVESTER Traffic passes a “wayfinding” sign at the intersection of Second and Walnut streets on June 27 in downtown Rogers.

The Northwest Arkansas Wayfinding Program installed signs across seven cities, and other nearby cities are looking to implement similar programs.

The Northwest Arkansas Council coordinated the program, intended to direct tourists and residents to attractions.

By The Numbers

Sign Program

• $750,000: Amount Bentonville spent for its signs without Walton Family Foundation money

• $1.1 million: Total spent by other seven cities for signs

• $450,000: Walton Family Foundation Grant to pay part for the seven cities

• $431,128: Cost of design, installation

• 243: Number of signs installed

Source: Staff Report

"We consider the wayfinding project to be a great regional success story because it allowed so many Northwest Arkansas communities to work together toward the same goal," said Robert Smith, communications and policy specialist for the council. "It's a fantastic regional accomplishment."

City officials in Farmington and Fort Smith are planning wayfinding signs, and the Tontitown City Council is considering the program. Cities interested in installing similar signs will receive the necessary project documents, and a steering committee will be created to guide those cities, Smith said.

Farmington applied to be a part of the program in May, said Melissa McCarville, city business manager. Planners just need to pick a sign color and logo that will fit the template. The city will have signs for its new high school, which will open in early 2015, and the Farmington Sports Complex. The city doesn't have a budget set for the signs.

"We are hoping this will help draw some people off the highway," McCarville said.

The cost of the signs might impact the number the city is able to purchase, McCarville said. Farmington will have to pay the full cost, as will other cities who choose to join the program. The initial seven cities had the help of a $450,000 grant from the Walton Family Foundation. The seven cities and the foundation spent almost $1.1 million on the design and fabrication of the signs.

The program made waves as far south as Fort Smith, as city officials are in the early stages of putting together a steering committee to push a program that would put up signs in Alma, Greenwood, Fort Smith and Van Buren, said Claude LaGris, executive director of the Fort Smith Convention and Visitors Bureau. He said he hopes it will one day meet the needs of other up-and-coming attractions, such as the U.S. Marshals Museum in Fort Smith.

"We're in the very early stages, but we are making progress," LaGris said.

He said he hopes their program will unify the River Valley in similar ways for tourists and for locals.

"We're hoping we can get the same kind of cooperation and success in the River Valley," LaGris said.

Tontitown's City Council has been discussing the program for a couple of months, but it hasn't received budget or design specifications for the signs, said Sunny Hinshaw, alderwoman. The council will not vote on the matter until it can do a full analysis of the sign program.

"The consensus is that we are willing to discuss it further," Hinshaw said.

Bentonville paved the way for Northwest Arkansas' program by installing signs before November 2011 in preparation for the opening of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. The Northwest Council initiated its program in 2012, soon after Bentonville's was completed.

The Bentonville city visitors bureau is pleased with the ease of access the signs have granted visitors in the last three years, said Kalene Griffith, bureau president.

The council formed its program midway through Bentonville's progress. The council chose the first seven cities -- Bella Vista, Eureka Springs, Fayetteville, Lowell, Rogers, Siloam Springs and Springdale -- with their tourist destinations and population in mind, Smith said.

The council has heard positive reports following the installation of the signs. The library in Bella Vista has seen more visitors since putting up signs pointing to the library, said Stacey Sturner, council project manager.

She said that's exactly the point. The bold signs are expected to instill more confidence in visitors, creating a more positive experience for them and increasing the number of visitors to less publicized locations.

The signs plant a seed in a person's mind to go see that location, Sturner said.

Siloam Springs and Eureka Springs are the last two cities to complete their sign construction. Siloam Springs and Eureka, unlike the other cities, planned for incremental installation.

Their progress is slated to be completed by December 2017.

NW News on 07/06/2014

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