By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
While plenty of upgrades and renovations have been made to the Great Bend Events Center building over the recent years, its sign will also be looking sharper soon.
The Great Bend City Council approved a $69,990 purchase to upgrade the digital billboard outside the Events Center along 10th Street.
Jeremy Guthrie with Mark’s Custom Signs is handling the billboard
update and provided the city two options. Option one for nearly $59,000
provided a slight increase in the screen’s resolution and the $69,990 option
two provides twice as high of clarity for an HD sign.
"As the technology improves, they continue to make high resolution displays so you can see a clearer picture," said Guthrie. "It really comes down to if you want to do more video, picture and graphic advertising. That's where you'll see the biggest difference in the high resolution."
The Events Center billboard is officially done with it warranty and is the city’s
most troublesome sign. Community Coordinator Christina Hayes said without the
warranty, it could cost between $700 and $2,000 a month to maintain.
"As the one that puts the designs up, it would be nice to have the extra resolution because logos look cruddy and blurry up there," said Hayes. "It would be nice to have the extra pixels to make the logos look nice."
The video display will be 72" x 130" and will include a five-year parts warranty.
The city has been saving funding for billboard upgrades in the budget for
several years, and Hayes expected more upgrades to the city’s other billboards
in the future.