To order a sign, please send $20 plus $5 shipping and handling to:
Harleyville Town Hall
119 S Railroad Avenue
Harleyville, SC 29448
Proceeds go to benefit the Festival Park.
Town of Harleyville Gives Up, Starts Selling Its Signs
January 19, 2004
HARLEYVILLE, S.C. (AP)-- Harleyville is cashing in on the commodity of its town limit signs.
The town is now peddling the signs that were once stolen at least twice a year, presumably by fans of Harley-Davidson motorcycles.
Harleyville started selling the green-and-white signs six months ago and more than 700 have been bought for $20 each, netting the town $5,600 after suppliers' costs were paid.
The signs, which apparently have a prestige among some cyclists, had been disappearing from their posts, prompting the police chief to plead with people not to steal them.
But since the town put a price tag on the signs, at least one thief has paid for his stolen sign.
"I have a Harleyville sign in my garage that I 'happened upon' about fifteen years ago," the handwritten note from Alliance, Neb., said. "I'm enclosing my check (actually a money order) for twenty dollars."
The manila envelope had a return address of "Just Me," and included a newspaper clipping and photograph of the garage where the sign hangs. AP
Harleyville gives thieves legal way to own signs
BY DORA ANN REAVES
Of The Post and Courier
January 16, 2004
HARLEYVILLE--The cliche is correct. This upper Dorchester County community is laughing all the way to the bank.
For decades, the town has been plagued by pilferers, many Harley-Davidson fans, who thought the green-and-white "Harleyville Town Limit" signs would look good in their workshops or garages. A couple signs went missing annually.
Last year, the town decided to offer would-be thieves and others an alternative. The signs went on the market at the See Saw Daze Festival. "It's for-real signs," said LaWanda White at Town Hall.
Since then, 700 signs have sold at a cost of $20 each.
The story of the town making a profit on its name spread across the country, all the way to Nebraska.
Harleyville Police Chief Neal Dye received a letter, signed "Had to Have that Sign" from the town of Alliance, Neb., population 9,959, median age 37.4.
"I have a Harleyville sign in my garage that I 'happened upon' about fifteen years ago," said the hand-written note. "I'm enclosing my check (actually a money order) for twenty dollars. ... Now I'll consider it mine."
Other than a newspaper clipping and a photograph of the garage where the sign now hangs, there were no clues regarding the letter writer. He or she gave the manila envelope a return address of "Just me."
White said the signs, after suppliers' costs have been paid, have brought in $5,600 in profit in six months. The shipping cost is an additional $5.
The town is considering marketing the signs on the Internet or at biker rallies, White said.
All profits are being banked for development of the town's community park.