Photos: Chris Emeott; SG Edina
New local biz creates unique personalized yard signs for all occasions.
Creating customizable experiences for your community, Sign Gypsies Edina (SG Edina) crafts unique yard signs for individuals fit for any occasion. From birthdays to anniversaries, graduations and more, this full-service sign company designs, sets up and retrieves each installation for every client within 24 hours. Made from recycled plastics, these signs are durable in moist climates and each piece can be reused from one project to another to decrease additional waste.
“It is a fantastic way to spread joy and celebrate each other,” owner Wendy Witherspoon says. “Yard signs bring people together because you can celebrate your neighbors’ accomplishments in a different way than we have in the past.”
Upon researching socially-distanced ways to celebrate her daughter’s 13th birthday during quarantine last April, Witherspoon stumbled across SG, a Texas-based company that was established in 2014 and was immediately intrigued. Without a means of receiving their services, Witherspoon resorted to a flimsy craft-store sign that eventually disintegrated into the yard from the rain. Making the best of the situation, she says that, “Knowing how happy she was to celebrate her birthday with the neighborhood made me realize how important it is for our community to celebrate together even during tough times.”
Through her experience and the desire to spread joy one celebration at a time, Witherspoon took matters into her own hands and looked into ways to expand the franchise locally.
With a crew of college students assisting her with set-up, take-down and design, this Edina-based business also provides service to Eden Prairie, Richfield, St. Louis Park and the southwest Minneapolis regions.
Accommodating their designs to any yard size and creating with their clients’ interests in mind, Witherspoon emphasizes that, “no two signs are the same.” Through a questionnaire, individuals can specify the event they’re celebrating, their favorite hobbies, sports teams, colors or interests along with the location where the greeting will be displayed.
Edina resident and client of SG Edina Shanna Hawkinson has had three different signs made for each of her daughters’ milestone birthdays (13, 16 and 18 years old).
“I love the ease of it and it was super easy to book,” Hawkinson says. “I liked how I could specialize it and that I didn’t have to do anything after [for set-up and take-down].”
Featuring items and colors unique to their tastes and interests, Hawkinson also worked to incorporate elements relating to their new passages of life such as a cell phone and girly décor for the 13-year-old, a car and a set of keys for her 16-year-old and #adult for her 18-year-old.
“It is not just a generic happy birthday, they were very specialized to each individual person,” Hawkinson says. “It is a fun way to celebrate.”
With an emphasis on making each sign unique to the recipient, Witherspoon explains how, “People feel so good when they are surprised with a yard sign just for them. They just feel really special and we get to be a part of that.”
As for the future of SG Edina, Witherspoon says that she hopes to add even more variety of inventory to her sign collection and to, “Continue to help the community celebrate and stay connected to one another.”
