Dreaming big

A new sign is letting everyone traveling across Interstate 80 know they are in Tigerhawk Country. In a partnership between the cities of Mingo and Colfax and the Colfax-Mingo School District, the billboard features logos from the three entities welcoming travelers as they head to town.

“Our communications and public relations committee has been working hard over the past couple of years to improve the public relations component of Colfax-Mingo Schools,” Colfax-Mingo Superintendent Erik Anderson said. “We dreamt a little bigger for a larger recent project. As you approach the Colfax and Mingo exit off of I-80 from the west, there is a billboard on the south side of the interstate right before the exit. After some hard work from Drew Otto, our city councils in Colfax and Mingo and our school board, for the next year there is now a sign letting everyone know this is TIGERHAWK COUNTRY!”

The communications and public relations committee, consisting of Anderson, two school board members, Chet Williams and Patrick Utz, the mayors from each community, David Mast of Colfax and Gary Bartels of Mingo, Colfax City Administrator Wade Wagoner, district business teacher Jen Snyder and Colfax-Mingo Elementary Art Teacher Drew Otto, formed last year with and made several goals for the future of the area. Those goals include of improving and promoting a positive image of the community, increasing open enrollment, decreasing out flow of students to the district and growing both communities.

The billboard is a very public part of their work to promote the district and communities. It is located at the I-80 exit 155 for westbound traffic and shines with the blue and orange school colors along with the new Colfax city logo and the City of Mingo’s tag “The Heart of the Chichaqua Valley Trail.” In bright, bold reverse lettering, Tigerhawk Country brings all of the pieces together.

The three partners split the cost of the billboard at 50 percent for the school district and 25 percent for each city. The total cost is approximately $20,000 annually.

“We now have first refusal rights on that billboard for years to come so we look forward to continuing this partnership for many years,” Anderson said.

Contact Jamee A. Pierson at 641-792-3121 ext. 6534 or jpierson@newtondailynews.com