MADISON, Wis. — A piece of Madison history was returned to its original glory Friday.
Badger Liquor Shop re-lit its vintage sign after it was restored over the summer, but refurbishing it was not as easy as flipping the switch.
With a countdown and cheers Friday night, “Madison’s Happiest Corner” got even happier, and brighter as it basked in the new neon glow.
“This is a very iconic sign,” said Thomas Zickuhr. “State Street is a very important part of the city of Madison.”
But for Zickuhr, owner and proprietor of Neon Lab, it wasn’t easy or fast to literally bend the lights into shape.
“This one came down to the wire,” he said.
After securing the project, Zickuhr described the feeling of receiving the dilapidated sign as overwhelming. Hours before the re-lighting Friday, he brought out the box of the sign’s previous letters.
“This, as a matter of fact, is the second half of the word ‘Badger’,” he said holding up a burnt-out “G-E-R.”
“I just got several sheets of gigantic pieces of cardboard with random pieces of neon taped to it, most of them were broken and very, very old because the sign was very old and it had fallen into a state of disrepair,” Zickuhr said.
Still, over the span of a month, he handmade the lightbulbs as bright as they once were.
“I take the original glass or what I have of it and I make patterns of that glass and have to back the patterns up to the can and try to get as close as I can it has to fit very, very precisely,” he explained.
Zickuhr handled the lights while Sign Art Studio out of Mount Horeb handled restoring the rest of the sign.
“Replacing like some of the rotted metal, all new paint job on it, and bring it up to current when it comes to electrical code,” said Dan Yoder, president of Sign Art Studio.
Sign Art Studio is no stranger to historic restoration, as they were tasked with touching up the Orpheum Theater sign nearby in October.
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According to Zickuhr, the crew at Sign Art Studio discovered a tag that proved the sign was from the 1940s.
It was a challenge to not only repair it but make sure it can withstand the elements for at least 20-30 years. “[Over the years] it’s had some attempts at servicing it, getting it working properly,” Yoder said.
“We like to have glass last for as long as 25 years, 30 years,” Zickuhr said, “minus the errant Mother Nature throwing things at it.”
But all the hands involved with bringing the historic neon lights back to the State Street skyline said it was worth it.
“The letter style, the font style it’s, it’s timeless,” Zickuhr said.
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