By Mark Wineka
mwineka@salisburypost.com
SALISBURY – If you’ve looked up this week, you may have seen some ghosts coming clearer into focus.Coordinated by Justin Dionne, Michael Alexander and Nassar Farid Mufdi Ruiz, ghost sign restorations continue in downtown Salisbury. In recent weeks, the focus has been on faded advertisements once painted on the V. Wallace & Sons Wholesale Annex building in the 100 block of East Fisher Street.
Earle Kluttz Thompson and her sister-in-law, Raines Thompson, have been doing the painting, which includes four different signs. Brothers Ron and Corey Roysdon, owners of Precision Building and Installation at 318 E. Council St., have been repointing some of the loose mortar on the massive three-story building, in preparation of the sign restorations.
Both the Thompsons and the Roysdons were high in the air Tuesday afternoon. The women were putting coats of red and white primer on a “V. Wallace & Sons Wholesale Annex” sign on a side of the building visible from East Fisher Street.
The Roysdons were repairing mortar joints on the back of the building, where the women will paint a long-and-narrow V. Wallace & Sons sign later this week.
The painters already have completed a Cheerwine sign on another part of the building and an artist’s palette in the back. Chad Vriesema of Central Piedmont Builders fixed the mortar on the Cheerwine side.
They’re not sure, Earle Thompson said, but the artist’s palette may have marked a spot for an arts supply shop or art studio.
Several people and companies have come forward to sponsor the restorations, donate equipment and provide valuable research, including Victor Wallace of Wallace Realty, Raymond and Cliff Ritchie of Cheerwine, Cheryl Goins of Pottery 101 and United Rentals.