Stephanie Perry and her husband, Ammon, own Yellow Bird Cafe in Harrisburg’s Midtown. Long before Steph became an entrepreneurial restaurateur, I knew her as a talented graphic designer.
We were colleagues at the late Neiman Group in Harrisburg, and she has worked on Goulet Communications projects for a dozen years.
Of course, Steph designed the eatery’s cool bird-in-silhouette logo. She also lends a little flair with the penmanship she applies to the sandwich board outside her North 3rd Street business.
Because Yellow Bird doesn’t have a projecting sign, the sandwich board is an important marketing tool. It literally stares pedestrians in the face.
“People will ask about the sandwich they saw listed on the sign,” Steph said.
What caught my attention wasn’t the content, however, but the fact that the sign is a chalkboard (Steph uses chalkboard markers, not actual chalk).
Heartwarming touch
Of course, chalk makes most of us think of our childhoods, whether in the classroom or on the playground. For me, at least, a chalkboard harks back to a more innocent time, so it adds a heartwarming touch to a business environment.
In this digital era, we’re always looking at screens. Like printed materials, chalkboards offer a nice departure from the everyday.
I first started thinking about this a couple of years ago at my niece’s wedding reception at a great little place in Kitty Hawk, N.C., called The Good Life Restaurant. Not only was there Moxie in the coolers, but there were a couple of gorgeously decorated chalkboards. I thought enough of it to snap a couple photos.
But I’ve spotted chalkboards in more and more businesses; Sheetz even incorporated an ersatz chalkboard in the billboard for its new coffee.
A New York Times story this summer described how, “The humble and ubiquitous chalkboard placed outside coffee shops, cafes, bars, restaurants or boutiques has slowly grown from a mere way to advertise that night’s specials or happy hours to a kind of showcase of wit, with puns, slang, pop-culture in-jokes, trivia, quotations and works of art.
“The signs share a predilection for being clever with social media. And perhaps they’re an analog art form perfect for our time, when we all wish to share our bon mots with everyone, all the time. It’s almost like tweeting on a chalkboard.”
The central Pennsylvania signs I’ve seen aren’t quite so slick, but they do stand out.
Inspiring creativity
I’ve previously written about the “Talking Wall” at Hoageez in Hummelstown, which makes the best hoagies this side or any side of Philadelphia. (It has the added benefit of being across the street from my office.)
The Talking Wall lets customers get in on the act, prompted by the question: What’s on your mind? After all, social media isn’t the only platform by which to engage your fans.
A Hoageez homage to hockey’s late, great Hartford Whalers.
‘Nothing is impossible; the word itself is I’m possible’
What is it about chalk that inspires creativity? Here’s the chalkboard at Palermo’s Pizza II in Hershey, complete with ribbon-like heading.
Just up the street from Blue Bird Cafe is The Midtown Scholar bookstore, where chalkboards abound.
Chalk can be messy, of course, but it always feels so authentic. You know that a person hand-crafted a message for your consumption.
And when the next inspiration strikes, all it takes is the swipe of an eraser to give you a blank slate with which to work.
