PANAMA — The village of Panama is looking to update some of its signs while also capitalizing on foot traffic during events.

Panama has been working to replace five wooden signs located on the major roads entering the village. Officials also are looking into adding more banners to light posts and working on foot traffic ideas for parades or events.

Mayor Bill Schneider said the signs at every major road into the village have been around for over 20 years and are beginning to show their age.

“There’s been a lot of abuse on them, mainly due to harsh weather,” Schneider said. “One sign has pulled completely away from the base and broke, and another is held up with wire, though you can’t see that unless you look closely. The (Village) Board has been talking and we decided an update was needed.”

During Schneider’s previous time as mayor, one sign was replaced after being hit by a car during an accident but, besides that, the signs have not been replaced.

The Village Board has been looking into different options for the signs and decided to go with the original company that created the signs. This led to the discovery that most of the signs can be repainted and only two need to be fully replaced.

“People need to know that Panama takes pride in its village,” Schneider said. “I don’t think people take into account how much the weather can cause wear and tear on things that are outside all the time.”

Along with the signs, the village is looking into getting more banners for the light poles. There are currently signs up for two seasons of the year that get swapped out when the time comes.

“We bought new ones four years ago and we had to have an outside contractor come in and swap them,” Schneider said. “We swap them out for two seasons when most towns have them for all four, so we’re looking into that. Of course, now there’s a worry about costs and supply chain issues.”

Additionally, the Village Board is looking into capitalizing on foot traffic and those coming out to events, including the Memorial Day parade.

“Traditionally, the Memorial Day parade sees a large crowd,” Schneider said. “I’m not really sure why, but I think it’s probably due to the fact that it seems like there are few Memorial Day parades around. We were looking into capitalizing the amount of people that come out to this event.”

The fire department does host chicken barbecues on Memorial Day and other businesses do fundraisers or participate in the parade, but it was decided that it was not a good idea to try to capitalize on Memorial Day.

“It has been decided by the board that it is not appropriate to do that for Memorial Day because it is the day to observe fallen veterans and we wanted to maintain the somberness of the day,” Schneider said. “So the board didn’t go through with that, but we are looking at other possibilities of more festive times to try and bring people in.”

One of those festive times was the Senior Day celebration. Panama hosted various activities on Sunday, Aug. 21, for the elderly members of the community.

“We held movies, games, a parade and local businesses had specials for the seniors,” Schneider said. “We wanted to celebrate the elderly members of the community and show them that they are not forgotten. It can be difficult to do events like this because of limited funding and manpower, but we are lucky to have people in the community who are willing to help.”