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New state champs signs coming to Monroe
Signs will be placed at multiple locations
Monroe state sign mockup
Monroe High School, the booster club and the City of Monroe have collaborated to bring new state champion signs to be placed at various entrances into the city. The signs are being paid for by fundraising dollars and are expected to be up around Cheese Days.

MONROE — Many small towns have a sign at the entrance that proclaims their high school’s state champions. The signs are typically a point of pride, sharing with passersby the accomplishments of local student athletes.

Monroe has such a sign — a red and white wood structure on the far east edge of town on 6th Street, across the road from the Justice Center at the Wisconsin 11/81 and Wis. 59 interchange. But the sign is old, and modernizing it became a realistic possibility.

“Reid Stangel approached me about that project and I said I am all for it,” said Jeff Newcomer, Monroe High School Athletic Director. “I think it’s awesome. I thought we should have more than one.”

Newcomer, working with the booster club and City of Monroe, decided on five locations — one at each highway entrance — but Newcomer said hang ups by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation might bring that total to four.

“We’ve run into some hurdles with the DOT and the exact placement of some of the signs,” Newcomer said. “But money’s coming in and we feel confident that we’ll raise enough money to be able to do four signs.”

One location to be used is where the sign currently stands. Newcomer wanted to move the sign into a clearing up the road, the but DOT declined that option because of a right of way.

“So, we will probably use the same posts the current sign is on and just put up the new sign,” Newcomer said. “The city has been great to work with — the planning committee with getting approval from their end — and they’ve been fully supportive all the way around.”

Each sign will cost around $500 total. Labor for installation will be donated, Newcomer said, which allowed for the cost to stay low.

Newcomer hopes at least one — if not all — of the signs will be installed by Cheese Days in mid-September.

“I think it’s a great way to recognize the students that gave their blood sweat and tears for the Cheesemakers. And it’s a nice way to recognize them with a more modern sign, and one that we can add to it,” Newcomer said. “Once a Cheesemaker, always a Cheesemaker.”