WHUP Listeners Join Campaign To Re-Name Orange County Interstate Sign!

Attention WHUP listeners! Orange County has an opportunity to change the “Welcome to Orange County” Interstate sign, currently placed on I-40 westbound at mile marker 269, and the county wants your input!

The current sign, created in the 1990s, greets motorists entering Orange County with the message “You’ll Be a Fan for Life.” Now it’s time to update that message, and the Orange County Board of Commissioners is inviting the public to suggest a fresh slogan for the sign.

The Orange County Visitors Bureau (one of WHUP’s founding business partners) is working with WHUP and other local media on a campaign that invites residents to submit ideas for the new slogan between now and January 8. Anyone who submits an idea will be eligible to win a weekly drawing for a $25 gift certificate to Bandido’s restaurant.

Each Wednesday, WHUP will salute the sign naming contest with a “Welcome to Orange County” segment on our morning news broadcast. We’ll share ideas we’ve received so far, whether funny and farfetched or electrifying, announce the weekly prize winner and solicit additional input.

Slogans can be submitted via e-mail, via our social media or on paper at one of two locations in town:

• E-mail to info@whupfm.org
• Via Facebook and Twitter
• On paper – entry boxes are located at the Central Orange Senior Center (103 Meadowlands Dr. next to the Sportsplex) and the Visitors Center at 50 E. King Street.

Slogan guidelines: 

• Slogan should (ideally) reflect Orange County, North Carolina (as opposed to just Hillsborough or Chapel Hill, UNC, etc.)
• Slogan should be six words or less
• Ideas must be submitted by January 8, 2016

Orange County will review all slogans submitted and will select up to 10 of them for public review and comment. These will be posted on WHUP’s website and social media from January 20-22. The final slogan will be selected and announced on Wednesday, January 27.

Laurie Paolicelli, the county’s Director of Community Relations, notes that the old slogan served its purpose but could use a facelift. “Throughout the years people have asked what the sign means, and there really isn’t a deep background to it,” says Paolicelli. “It worked in the context of its time, but now we’d like to update the sentiment based on Orange County today.”

For more information, contact Ms. Paolicelli at Lpaolicelli@orangecountync.gov or call her at 919-245-4322.

Some Ideas Submitted to Date:

1. Deep Roots. Still Growing.
2. Orange Is the New Green.
3. Around the corner, ahead of the curve.
4. Orange You Glad We Didn’t Say Banana
5. I-40; Duke-0.
6. Open Space. Open Minds.
7. When you visit us, you feel like you’re home!