Restored marquee returns to Wrigley Field for Opening Day
CHICAGO (WLS) -- If you go to Opening Day at Wrigley Field on Monday, the historic marquee will be there to greet you.
The marquee was hoisted into its rightful place on Wednesday. It spent the off-season getting a much needed makeover, and ABC7 got an exclusive look at that process.
David Garza's crew at the Southwater Sign Company put the finishing touches on what might be the most photographed sign in baseball: the marquee outside Wrigley Field.
For the last few months, the marquee was in a plant in Elmhurst, rather than mounted at the entrance to the historic ballpark. The company is restoring the sign and getting it ready for another few decades.
"It's a big project, yeah. We set aside a lot of things to make sure this got done on time and got done well," Garza said.
The marquee is protected by historic landmark status, and so restoring it to its original luster is a little more complicated than slapping on a new coat of paint. They had to document everything for the city's Landmarks Commission and make sure they stayed true to the original.
"We made a commitment to restore the ballpark to its golden age," said Julian Green, a spokesperson for the Cubs.
Though there are some changes. The backside of the marquee used to be covered, but with ballpark renovations, it will now be exposed so fans can see it inside the park.
"They're going to basically remove some of the blocking in the stadium so that you can see the backside of this now, it projects out three feet," "Exactly, you've never seen it. This is history right here."
Transporting it is another issue. After putting the top and bottom together for one final check to make sure everything lines up, they carefully loaded the sign onto a truck.
About 3,700 man hours went into the sign's restoration. Crews were up past midnight Tuesday night getting it ready for its return trip to Wrigley - just five days before the home opener.
