The Tropics sign relighted for the first time in 15 years

The restored neon sign for the now-defunct The Tropics restaurant in Lincoln, Illinois, was relighted Sunday evening in front of a crowd of hundreds of people.

The Lincoln Courier newspaper posted this short video of the countdown to the relighting:

Here’s what the sign looked like in the daytime, a few hours before the ceremony.

Ace Sign Co. of Springfield, Illinois, restored the sign, which includes an interpretive panel that explains the sign’s history.

The sign stands at the parking lot of a McDonald’s at 1007 Hickox Drive in Lincoln. That is the original site of The Tropics restaurant before it was torn down.

Fundraising remains about $3,000 of the $70,000 goal. Donations can be made to The Tropics Legacy Campaign, care of the Logan County Tourism Bureau, 101 N. Chicago St., Lincoln, IL 62656.

Also, The Tropics Legacy Campaign was selling commemorative T-shirts over the weekend. The Logan County Tourism Bureau was selling them from its office in the Lincoln depot. Proceed go to the restoration of the sign.

The restaurant’s founder, Vince Schwenoha, once traveled to California and drew inspiration from its palm trees when he founded The Tropics along Route 66 in Lincoln and designed its iconic neon sign in 1950.

Lew and Bev Johnson ran the eatery for the next few decades. The restaurant went through a spate of closings and reopenings after Interstate 55 bypassed the town, and it closed for good in 2003.

In 2016, The Tropics was inducted into the Illinois Route 66 Hall of Fame.

After the salvaged sign spent some time in a city-owned field, it was transported in June 2016 to Ace Sign for restoration. The project was finished in April.

UPDATE: Geoff Ladd at the Mill Museum in Lincoln also shot video from the relighting:

And here’s his shot of the restored sign after darkness fell Sunday night:

(Images of the restored The Tropics sign by Dara C. Walters Entwistle and Marilyn Lumpp Wheat via Flickr)