Inspired by the Freeway Blogger, our group has put up five signs on bridges over Interstate 25 in Denver. Following the Women’s March in 2017 about 10 of us formed a huddle.We run in age from 22 to 70; some are in school, some work, some retired; 6 of us are family members. We meet every month or so; we keep each other informed of events/issues through email.
The Freeway Blogger is our mentor, our model for political action. At our first meeting, while considering actions we could take to express our rage at the course our country was taking, someone talked about a post seen on Daily Kos, a post by the Freeway Blogger describing his methods and results. So we made our first sign:
Not very big, took a great deal of nerve on our part to get out at 5 inthe morning and hang it up over the interstate.
Then we tried another one:
And it got sort of addicting!
Since those first two, we’ve put up three others:DEPORT RACISTS
IMPEACH PUTIN’S PUTZ
And our Christmas special --
YOU’RE A MEAN ONE, MR. TRUMP
We don’t do a lot; there are time constraints. But each one is a smallvictory for us (and in the case of our Christmas special, a very largevictory, and more about that in a bit).
METHODS
We follow the sign-making procedure described by the FreewayBlogger, with variations
-
We get bicycle boxes – as many as needed for the sign we planto make. For the most part that’s easy: go to a bike shop, get permission to do some dumpster diving and walk away with the boxes. One place though charged us $5 for the privilege, so they’re off our list.
-
-
We organize what we call a ‘wine and sign’ party – we don’t have a projector, so we hand letter and paint our signs. Tear apart the bike box and give one side a coat of white paint(interior/exterior, it doesn’t matter). Then pencil in the letters,making sure they’re big enough and well-spaced. We use templates cut out of foam-core board for sizing. You want letters to be about 30” tall. That sounds huge -- it is huge -- but makes for a very readable sign. Get a can of black paint, pass out brushes, pour the wine and go to it.
-
Pick your site. Before going with your sign and bungee cords,check it out, find a parking place, take a look at the mesh size on the fencing. (we didn’t do this with our first sign, and discovered that one side of the bridge had very tiny mesh that
made it almost impossible to attach the hook of a bungee cord.So it took forever, traffic was going across the bridge and underthe bridge, and we were sure we’d get caught. So PLAN!)
-
Get your crew and your supplies ready. We make this a team project – two to drive, 4 to 6 to hang the sign. You need some bungee cords (we use 2/box, or more if it’s a long box), some duct tape to tape cords to back of box, a needle nose pliers to tighten the hook on the bungee cord.
-
Decide the time to hang. We like to catch a rush hour crowd.Our first two signs went up early a.m. to catch the morning rush hour, but we’ve done a couple at 4 or so in the afternoon that were fun. Folks stuck in traffic can watch the process – some honk and cheer; others flip us off.
We’ve had one failure and one outstanding success.
Our failure – IMPEACH PUTIN’S PUTZ – went up at about 6 a.m. andwas gone by 7:30 a.m. A real disappointment.
But the sign we did after that, our Christmas special, was seen by thousands. Someone’s bad luck – a rush hour accident on I-25 shortly after we’d hung the sign – brought out TV news helicopters, and our sign made three stations.
-
-
To see in all it’s glory: https://www.facebook.com/ilike9news/videos/vb.263743636076/10155602240141077/?type=2&theater
-
And another note on size – this sign was about 32” tall, by about 25’ long. We used 3 bike boxes – not cut down – the full length of the boxes when opened.
So do it! Just one sign! It is great fun, and thousands will see your work.