It’s out with the old and in with the new at The Vidette, but the new looks a lot like the old.

Thanks to the hard work of a quartet of Montesano High School seniors, the weathered Vidette sign that used to hang from the building over the sidewalk has been replaced with a new sign that almost exactly mimics the original.

“This is the oldest commercial building in town — the sign is an icon,” said Montesano High School CTE instructor James Wark. “We really wanted to do it right.”

Perhaps it’s a modern icon, but the sign hasn’t been hanging from the building since the place was built. The sign was built and installed in the 1990s by then Deanna McFeely, then an employee of The Vidette. Her name has since changed to Deanna Fountain, and she now lives at Soap Lake in central Washington.

After seeing a photo last week, Fountain said, “It looks better than ever.”

The sign was built for Scott Olson, the former editor and publisher of The Vidette. It was a birthday present.

“I still feel very proud of that sign,” Fountain said. “I haven’t been back to the Harbor in a decade, but the last time I came back I drove by and waved at the sign.”

On May 10, three Montesano High School students installed the new sign they had spent weeks crafting. As MHS senior Matthew Johnson stood near the top of the ladder finessing the hooks into the eyes on the sign frame, MHS senior Ben Lopez held the ladder. MHS senior Joel Dillard and Wark both applauded as the sign was released and hung proudly over the sidewalk.

“I’m excited about the community connection of the project,” Wark said. “Someday the students will have kids and bring them by here.”

The project initially started with the aim of restoring the original sign, but replacing the sign ultimately made more sense.

In an effort to keep attention to details, the students used vinyl lettering which were designed in a CAD system by CTE instructor Roger Records.

“We didn’t think the vinyl would work as well as it did,” Lopez said. The students had used the vinyl before, but not with painting, he added. “Just making stickers.”

“The vinyl lettering was the most interesting and challenging part,” Dillard added.

In addition, MHS senior Roy Moe helped CTE instructor Jeff Wetzel clean up the old, rusted bracket that surrounded the weathered sign. Initially, they had planned to sand and repaint the sign, but additional attention was needed.

“There is always more than meets the eye. We ended up welding new eyes to hang the sign from as the old ones were rusted through,” Wetzel wrote in an email. “It was great to have a project that’s not just busy work — something that has real value that we can show off our skills on.”

In all, the project saw the labor of four students, three instructors, and the endorsement of school administration. That combined effort left an impression on Johnson.

“It takes more than one person to do a project like this,” Johnson said.

After some six coats of tan exterior paint and at least three coats of green, the sign is again a beacon above the sidewalk and a breath of new life to the The Vidette building that was built in 1911.

Though it’s a new sign, the students have preserved the history, and that’s important, especially to the original artist.

“Thank you and The Daily World for saving a piece of history. And that’s what The Vidette is — a piece of history,” Fountain said.