Civic election signs suddenly sprouting like weeds

Suddenly, civic election signs started sprouting like weeds this past weekend. Why?

Halloween, silly. Signs have been slower to appear this year for two reasons. The first was the federal election. The second is that most candidates have clued into the fact that the more signs you put up before Halloween, the more will be vandalized.

So, with that out of the way, the candidates were busy little bees on the weekend. During the next two weeks, more and more of them will appear as they compete with each other for boulevard space.

Most will be focused at intersections and main gateways to the downtown and Tranquille shopping areas, since candidates figure most drivers end up at one of those two places on a given day. Centralizing sign distribution gives you the most bang for the buck.

However, whenever I see an election sign on a side street I tend to think kindly of that candidate for recognizing the importance of neighbourhoods.

Civic campaigns, not being limited by party politics (at least not in these parts), are therefore also not limited in sign colours. If candidates picked their sign colours according to which party they favoured, Peter Milobar would be a New Democract, John O’Fee a Green, and Brian Alexander, Denis Walsh and Tina Lange would be Conservatives.

But there’s also a nice selection of sky blue, maroon and other variations. Here are my prizes for the day, in the lawn sign category:

Best Mayoral Candidate Sign: Brian Alexander. I like the typeface and the colours, and, though it’s a little cluttered, mostly easy to read.

Least Effective Sign: Merv Hanson. Way too many words, way too small. You can barely make out his name at 60 kph, let alone the other stuff. Lawn signs are for name recognition, not for stating your platform. Second place goes to Nancy Bepple — again, way too cluttered.

Most Interesting Law Sign: Jim Willford’s starburst thingy.

Best Lawn Sign With A Slogan: Wayne Vollrath. Not many candidates try to put slogans on lawn signs, with good reason, but Vollrath at least keeps his short: “It’s time.” I leave it to you to figure out what it means.

Enjoy your sign watching, but keep an eye on the road.