NORTHWEST TERRITORIES

Over the weekend, the final work was to be completed on a new sign welcoming travellers to the Northwest Territories at the NWT/Alberta border on Highway 1.

The new greeting replaces the now-dismantled 'Northwest Territories 60th Parallel' sign, which had stood for decades.

"The new sign is larger and colourful, and presents a great photo opportunity for people who want to capture the memory of crossing the border, whether it is visitors or residents coming back home," said Lloyd Jones, the superintendent for the South Slave Region with the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment.

Jones said to the department's knowledge the old sign was 30-plus years old.

"It was of a wooden material and it had been a number of times retrofitted, and it was starting to rot and degrade," he said, adding it was also susceptible to vandalism and graffiti. "It did not create a good first impression for visitors entering the Northwest Territories."

Jones said, because of a number of complaints about the old sign and concerns about its durability and the vandalism, the department approached Yellowknife's Outcrop Communications in 2009 about designing a new sign.

"What they came up with was a sign that has '60th Parallel' that signifies you're passing the 60th latitude, and then a large enough 'Welcome to the Northwest Territories' to welcome all visitors and residents," he noted, adding a large compass on the right side of the sign embraces all the geographic regions of the NWT, while an 'N' on the top of the compass signifies heading north.

The new sign is much bigger than the one it replaces. It is 32 feet wide by 16 feet high, and is elevated another four feet above the existing concrete base to make it harder for graffiti to be written on it.

The sign was built and installed by Poison Painting of Hay River.

In all, the sign cost about $150,000 for design, construction and installation.

Jones noted a mixture of colours create a more vibrant sign and makes it easy for visitors and residents to read the welcome.

The regional superintendent said there had been some consideration given to rebuilding the old sign, which along with the words 'Northwest Territories 60th Parallel' included the image of a polar bear.

However, he explained the welcoming sign required something more symbolic of the North because sometimes the polar bear image is linked to the Government of the Northwest Territories.

"We wanted to kind of embrace all of the geographic regions of the North," he said. "So we went with this design, and hopefully we are gaining a new tourism icon. The older sign no longer presented a good first impression."

Jones said he thinks there will be some individuals who may miss the old sign, but they will in time accept the new one.

There will be no official unveiling of the new sign.

It is part of a significant improvement to the 60th Parallel Territorial Park and Visitor Centre at the NWT/Alberta border on Highway 1.

In early June, Industry, Tourism and Investment Minister Bob McLeod will officially open the new visitor centre at the border. The centre actually opened for visitors last year, but final touches are being added.

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