‘It’s awesome.’ Parody Detroit-style signs begin showing up across metro Detroit

By WXYZ staff

Click here for updates on this story

    DETROIT (WXYZ) — The jokes keep rolling on about Detroit’s new welcome sign, and now, average citizens in over a dozen communities across metro Detroit have taken it upon themselves to spend little to no money creating spoofs of the sign.

I hit the streets in many of these cities to uncover how these homemade signs became social media sensations that have brightened the days of many people.

The spoof signs have been popping up across the area. From Livonia and St. Clair Shores, to what started out as Redford, to what’s now a soggy Monroe, New Haven, Richmond, and one in Ray Township, made by Sarah Ellis-Kirtley.

“I quickly went to the dollar store, grab some red vinyl, some duct tape,” she said.

She slapped some pieces of cardboard together with the duct tape and bam!

“I ran over to the fire department, not knowing if I was going to get in trouble or not, and I just laid out the side as quickly as I could without being seen,” she said.

You’ll have to squint hard to see the one in Livonia, because Darcy Pryciak said it’s actually only four inches high.

“I decided make it as it is. As ridiculously tiny and insignificant as possible,” Pryciak said.

It seems the idea behind the colorful and creative signs spoofing Detroit’s was conceived by the folks behind a couple of popular Facebook pages, including one that’s a parody for The Macomb Daily, run by Andrew Kozinski.

“The participation has just blown my mind,” he said. “We saw it as an opportunity to have fun with the surrounding suburbs.”

Kozkinski said they thought it would be a great idea if they encouraged people living in the suburbs to put up their own signs and it took off.

“Then some beautiful soul from Warren Michigan put up the best sign and that’s what really kicked off this campaign,” he said.

It hasn’t slowed down. Some letters have gone down for the count, but the spirit behind the spoofs remains alive.

“We ran out to Party City, spent the $11.13. I ran out to sculpture on Hall Road in Sterling Heights. I put down the letters and everyone has been following since,” Kozinski said.

“I love the creativity of it and the chaos of it,” Kirtley said.

“There’s no denial Warren set the tone with the cardboard. W set tone with party city look, and the Shelby one had the little lights,” Kozinski said.

“It brings the communities together. I mean, here we are. Put something together to make people laugh. I mean, it’s nice to have joy,” Pryciak said.

It has been fun to see the creativity behind the spoofs, and even Detroiters can appreciate the humor.

“I’s kind of funny. Those are little places compared to Detroit you don’t need a sign. We know where you’re at, look, haha,” Christina Staples said.

The upset is you won’t get arguments about tax dollars being used, because zero were used in making these signs, and they’re not expected to stand the test of time.

“They said that the vinyl was waterproof. I’m going to just give it about maybe a week or two weeks,” Kirtley said.

“They want from the draft, they want everyone else to know we matter too, but you need a real sign. That’s not going to cut it. But it was cute,” Staples said.

“We think it’s awesome. So many depressing things, but it’s cool how to take City of Detroit and connect them in such a unique way,” Kozinski said.

“I’m so amused. I think it’s so great that everybody’s just having fun with this, you know?” Pryciak said.

Don’t be surprised if you start to see more signs pop up.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.