BERNE — For it latest project, a group of residents is asking for ideas from the public on adorning the town’s welcome signs and creating a sense of artistry.

“I’m hoping the visitors to the Town of Berne will think of us as a fun, upbeat place to be,” said Wendy Cook, the pastor of the Helderberg Evangelical Lutheran Church who started the Berne Arts Association last year, “with citizens who are engaged and interested in the community, and that this is a place where things are happening. So come visit Berne.”

The impetus for the project came when Mary Jo Mckeon, a retired librarian, noticed some of the town’s signs in disrepair, Cook said.

Out of the more than 10 signs welcoming drivers to the town of Berne, with their white wooden posts and blue-lettered words, three, said Cook, have been prioritized for the project:

— On Route 156 at the border with Knox;

— On Warner Lake Road at Strevell Lane; and

— On Cole Hill Road, near Route 85, at the border with Westerlo.

While all ideas are welcome, Cook said, she suggested a mosaic tile could be hung from the each sign.

Heidi Johnson, a third woman heading the project, may be able to fire the clay tiles in a kiln, she said. Like a photography project last year, the group would work on the designs with residents on Memorial Day, with the final assembly on June 13.

Design ideas can be submitted to Cook by email at or by calling her at 872-1443.

— Marcello Iaia