Our LOVE sign is one of the longest official LOVE signs in Virginia and the only one on the Blue Ridge Parkway. It celebrates our section of the Parkway from Mabry Mill to the Blue Ridge Music Center. If you’re staying with us, make sure to take a selfie at the sign to remember your trip. Parkway visitors are wlecome to stop in for a picture and are invited to grab a snack, cold drink or souvenir from our camp store to enjoy on the road. Read on to learn more about the design and construction of our LOVE sign.

Final Work Days

(April 6, 2020) During the final workdays, painting was the priority. We added second coats and touched up spots. Finally, we installed our campground logo on the camper or O. The L finally received its Mabry Mill picture. Diane worked to add the musical notes to the E to celebrate the musical heritage of the area.

Days 5, 6 and 7

(March 19, 2020) The last three days of work on our LOVE sign can be summed up in one word – paint. The variety of colors on the letters and the elements of the mural have brought the sign to life. Drivers on the Blue Ridge Parkway can see it clearly. We know because they slowed down to look as we woked. We’re not finished yet. There is still more painting and additional elements to add.

Day 4

(March 11, 2020) We have LOVE at Fancy Gap Cabins and Campground now that the letters of our Virginia LOVE sign are up and visible from the Blue Ridge Parkway. They still need paint, but they look great!

Artist Diane Steele, who designed our sign, and her husband Pat, who is helping with the build, worked for over a week to construct them. The O was the most challenging. It required a three-day build to capture the shape and look of a vintage camper.

The plywood letters were installed in a couple of hours using heavy-duty wood screws. Only a few adjustments were needed to place each letter because of Diane’s use of stencils on the fence. Fittingly, Diane and Pat enjoyed the first photo in front of the letters.

What’s next? The Mabry Mill picture will go with the L and a campground logo on the camper or O. Finally, there is lots of painting.  

Days 2 and 3

(February 22 and 23, 2020) With warmer temperatures, sunshine and no wind, the work on our Virginia LOVE sign continued. Friend and artist Diane Steele secured stencils and traced on the cyclists, motorcyclist, hikers and trees. Later, she came back to add lines for the mountains and to work with the shape of the heart that surrounds the letter V. Now that everything is laid out with permanent marker, we’ll mount the L, O, V, and E next.

Day 1

(February 19, 2020) With temperatures in the forties and the wind mild, at least for Fancy Gap, today turned out to be the day to start construction on our LOVE sign. It will be built on the 80-foot long stretch of fence that faces the Blue Ridge Parkway.

The design emphasizes our section of the Parkway from Mabry Mill to the Blue Bridge Music Center. There is a large picture of the mill, a camper and silhouettes of hikers, cyclists and music notes. All of these elements are set against the mountains. Diane Steele is the artist who designed the sign and has the know-how to build it. She led my visiting son Garrett and me through the first steps to bring our LOVE sign from concept to reality.

We started with finding the center of the fence and then marking the total space needed for the letters. We ran a string about a foot up from the bottom of the fence to give us a level-line for the letters that accounted for the slope of the ground. Diane created paper stencils to position on the fence. They allowed us to check that the estimated size and angles were correct before building anything. Before the wind took down the stencils, we got them traced, leaving a template directly on the fence.

One to two inches of snow is predicted for tomorrow. So, the remaining stencils of the hikers, cyclists and motorcyclists will hopefully be up and traced this weekend. Once all of the templates are on the fence, we can turn to constructing the 3-D elements and painting.