Sign Wars
What Caused The Sign Wars?
What happens after two years of Covid lockdowns, when humans are forced to pivot like never before—to work from home, to hold business meetings in ratty cutoffs, to engage with close-quartered family members like never before? What happens when lockdown-related supply chain issues empty store shelves and car lots, causing runaway inflation and a world teetering on economic distress?
What happens when climate change sparks unprecedented wildfires, droughts and floods in the most unlikely of places, leaving people the world over fraught with fear for what’s to come next? The answer is sign wars, naturally, proving the point that when people are faced with troubling times—of reality on steroids—a sense of humor always wins the day.
Where Were The Sign Wars?
Outbreaks of sign wars are happening everywhere—Virginia Beach, Angola Indiana, Christianburg Virginia, Marshfield Missouri, but most famously in the small town of Listowel Canada, two hours east of Toronto by car. It all started with Speedy Glass owner Trevor Cork, who challenged a neighboring Dairy Queen to a sign war. “It absolutely blew up,” he told a BBC News reporter.
“There are thousands of warring signs on local businesses from our town alone to neighboring towns and cities and counties. It’s been so uplifting. There hasn’t been one negative comment. The reaction has been absolutely amazing. We’re getting people stopping into my business just to say thank you for making them smile.”
Speedy Glass owner Trevor Cork
From Sign Wars to Signs of Peace
The outbreak of sign wars has brought entire communities together, both large and small, in ways that help people smile in the face of overwhelming grim news and worldwide anxiety about the future, uplifting crestfallen spirits with a new sense that we’re all in this together. “We haven’t smiled and laughed this much since the Covid,” one Angola business owner told a Bored Panda reporter. “Everyone’s trying to hire, people are hard to find, we’re all in the same boat so take a break.”
“It’s hot,” one Marshfield Missouri McDonald’s employee told a local TV reporter. “The world is throwing everyone challenges and negativity, so we all found a way to laugh and have fun as a community,” making sign wars, a much-needed time out from the worries of today.