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Photos: Out with the old, in with the new for landmark Batavia Downs sign

By Howard B. Owens

Workers this morning carefully dismantled the landmark Batavia Downs sign atop the roof of the grandstand of the legendary racetrack.

The neon sign is being replaced with a more energy efficient and less costly LCD sign that has been fabricated to exactly match the lettering of the old sign.

Ryan Hasenauer, marketing director for Western Regional OTB, said officials plan to keep the B and the D from the old sign and display them in some manner on the property, but the future of the remaining letters of the sign has yet to be determined.

Bottom photo: The first two letters of the new sign, time permitting, will be fitted into place some time today.

Lincoln DeCoursey

It's a shame to see the landmark neon sign replaced with translucent plastic and LEDs. If the old sign had failed and required major service or replacement, obviously today's economy would dictate that it should be accomplished in a cost effective way. But with the landmark sign still glowing pretty well and looking really good, I just don't get the impetus for swapping it for a plastic sign. We have enough of that style of sign already via Tops and Rite Aid.

It's too bad whenever we come up with a better and cheaper way to approach something in this country the result is usually, well, more cheaper than better. The lettering may perhaps be an exact match in terms of the outline of the letters, but the nighttime appearance is going to be off. If a new sign was required, I would have preferred one that retained the glowing stylized tube design as well as the neon orange color.

Jul 9, 2012, 4:50pm Permalink
Ryan Hasenauer

Lincoln, the old sign did fail quite often. We here at the downs were constantly having to hire costly neon/repair specialists to come and fix the sign. Often a piece or an entire letter would be unlit. Combine that with the large electrical bill that it incurred and it was natural that this would happen as we got ready for our expansion. We appreciate the historical importance of the sign which is why the B and D are being saved and will be used for some sort of future decoration onsite.

Jul 10, 2012, 2:45pm Permalink

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