Less than two weeks ago, it was learned Dairy Queen wanted a franchise along Route 66 in Holbrook, Arizona, to replace its 50-year-old neon sign.
Hundreds of preservationists launched a Change.org petition and called and emailed DQ headquarters in response, asking it to allow the sign to stay at its longtime home at 1004 Navajo Blvd. (Route 66).
Apparently the home office listened. Logan Barreras, who launched the petition, said Tuesday:
In a Email Received Yesterday, Andy from IDQ Stated that the Dairy Queen Heritage Sign(Neon) may remain as long as it is in good working order and kept up properly!
David Heward of Holbrook also wrote Tuesday on Facebook:
IT’S OFFICIAL. I just got off the phone with local franchisee Albert Reyes, who confirmed that DQ Corporation has given in to public pressure and will allow the sign to stay where it is. There will be some other changes to other signage coming, but the iconic old neon sign with the neon will remain as it is! THANK YOU DAIRY QUEEN… and everyone who helped any way!!!
The petition drive gained more than 500 supporters, and the Save the Holbrook Dairy Queen Sign on Facebook collected more than 200 fans.
Heward wrote Feb. 1 — less than a week after roadies learned of the sign’s precarious situation — that the emails and petition “have definitely gotten their attention” at Dairy Queen headquarters, but hadn’t relented.
By the next day, DQ did relent.
It shows what a good social-media campaign can do. Even big corporations such as Dairy Queen — owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway — cannot ignore it any more.
(Image of the Holbrook Dairy Queen sign by Brian Bennett via Flickr)
Thanks to everyone that helped with this preservation! It is a very good thing to know that a large corporation will change to reflect the public comments.!
Thank you Dairy Queen; too many of the iconic Rt 66 symbols are gone; thanks for keeping this one.
Darn, I was hoping to buy the sign on ebay!
Kidding…