By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
Just in time for the summer tourism season, Sea Isle City has a new welcome sign to greet visitors arriving on the main artery into town.
“Sea Isle City … A City for All Seasons,” it declares while overlooking Sea Isle Boulevard.
Decorated with a royal blue color scheme as the background, the sign also features gold and white lettering and a whimsically designed sun emblem.
The wording includes “Est. 1882,” giving motorists a quick history lesson about the year Sea Isle was founded by visionary real estate developer Charles K. Landis as a Venice, Italy-inspired beach resort.
Vicki Pittaluga, who was Sea Isle’s assistant purchasing agent before retiring last year, is the one credited for coming up with the “A City For All Seasons” slogan.
“I don’t know if there were other slogans being considered, but everyone seems to like this one,” city spokeswoman Katherine Custer said.
The same slogan can be found on Sea Isle’s municipal letterhead and on some of the banners that adorn the decorative lamp posts in town, including those lining the John F. Kennedy Boulevard entry corridor.
Custer, Mayor Leonard Desiderio and his wife, Carmela Desiderio, who recently retired as the city’s purchasing agent, jointly worked on designs for the welcome sign.
Last year, the mayor was given samples of different signs to help narrow down the style he liked. Then city officials created different options for the colors, the type of lettering and the wording, Custer explained.
“After several changes, the mayor approved the final design – and the end result is the sign you now see on the causeway. So far, we have only received positive comments from people. Everyone seems to like it,” she said.
The new sign occupies a prominent place on Sea Isle Boulevard, also known as the causeway, on the inbound side approaching the bridge into town.
For years, Sea Isle had another welcome sign in the same area that said, simply, “Welcome to Sea Isle City.”
The old, weather-beaten sign was removed when Sea Isle Boulevard underwent a multi-year, $12.7 million reconstruction project completed by Cape May County in 2019 to elevate the roadway above flood levels.
“During the county’s causeway elevation project, it had to be removed, at which time they discovered that it was in bad shape and needed to be replaced. So, the mayor wanted to replace it with a sign that had a new look,” Custer said.
Samples of the old sign still exist around town. There are similar ones near the Townsends Inlet Bridge and at the Sea Isle-Strathmere border on First Street, Custer said.
