WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — Residents who may be nostalgic over some of the 60 streets that were renamed in the Town of Rib Mountain’s change to uniform addressing will soon be able to own one of the street signs.
Town Administrator Gaylene Rhoden says as soon as people learned that the town would be coming into compliance with the system, they began receiving calls about the signs. “A lot of people had [street names] that were near and dear to them. Whether it was a family-owned house, or somebody just liked the name, they were requesting them.”
That started the discussion of how best to distribute the soon-to-be outdated signs. Rhoden says they settled on a silent auction-style sale which will begin next spring, with the funds going towards park projects in the town.
“We thought that we could use this as a fundraiser for an expansion of the dog park, as well as a walking nature preserve area that’s right next to the dog park,” she said.
Many of the signs that will be sold are still up and will remain in place alongside the new street names through the winter to allow residents to get accustomed to the new names. Then in the spring the town will remove the signs and finalize the auction process.
Residents who are interested in getting in on the sale should look for details in the Town’s March 2020 newsletter including how to bid and the deadline for submitting bids. Rhoden says they also plan to publicize the sale on the town website and Facebook page.
The minimum bid for each sign will be $20. Rhoden says she doesn’t have an exact count on how many signs will be sold.
