My sign board snapped in half during a march in Portland last Saturday

I had this big foam board I'd spent three hours on with perfect lettering and a clever joke about zoning laws, and it broke right in half when the wind gusted near the waterfront. I ended up taping it back together with duct tape from a stranger's backpack, but the message was all crooked and hard to read. What's your go-to material for signs that won't fall apart in bad weather?

3 comments

3 Comments

ivan7741mo ago

A buddy of mine who does a lot of political work learned this the hard way. He spent six hours on a beautiful sign with fancy paint and glued-on letters, only to have it dissolve in a rainstorm. Now he swears by corrugated plastic, the kind they use for real estate signs. He cuts it with a utility knife, uses a permanent marker for the lettering, and drills a couple of holes in the corners to zip-tie it to a wooden stake. Says he's had the same sign for three years now, through rain and wind, and it still looks fine. The only downside is you can't get real fancy with the art, but for getting a message across, it's hard to beat.

moore.beth1mo ago

ivan774 I feel you so hard on this lol. My neighbor did the exact same thing with a yard sign for a local fundraiser, painted it all nice and then a storm hit and it was just a soggy mess the next morning. He was so frustrated he almost quit the whole thing. That corrugated plastic trick is genius, I might have to steal it for my own stuff. I love that your buddy figured out the zip tie and permanent marker combo, that's the kind of practical wisdom you only get from messing up a few times. Honestly, sometimes the simple and ugly stuff is what lasts and gets the job done.

ryanm601mo ago

Corrugated plastic works but try painting on an old road sign with spray paint, that stuff never dies.