The Story of Our Sign

We know it seems a bit odd to dedicate an entire blog post to our road sign but once you read how the Lord blessed Canaan in the last few months, you’ll understand why!

Back in 2006, Nick, Tiffany & Matt created the first Canaan sign. According to Matt, Tiffany purchased the letters from Hobby Lobby and the three of them began painting, cutting the lumber and placing the posts. Not too long after, Canaan had it’s first sign at the gate welcoming guests to the Island.

Fast forward to 2010, the years of sun and rain had taken it’s toll on the sign and it was time for an upgrade. Our new sign would be made of metal with a decal applied for what we hoped would be years of service. We also added stone pillars and lighting to beautify the area a bit.

The sign served us well and welcomed thousands of guests as they ventured onto the island. Sadly however, the sign was vandalized in late 2020. For months, the sign sat, damaged as we planned out what we should do next. This was an unexpected expense and we wanted to make the best decision.

On January 18th we hosted Arc Energy Services (www.arcenergyservices.com) on the island for some teambuilding. After their day of fun on the island, a discussion started about our current sign and how it was vandalized. Roddy, Arc’s CEO after hearing the story introduced us to Jared, their Machining Operations Manager and together they agreed they would create us a new sign at no cost. We as a staff were blown away by the Lord’s provision and for Arc’s generosity.

Soon after, we began work with Jared on designing a new sign. The design started simple but after working with Jared and him sharing some of his previous work, we decided on something with a bit more detail.

The final design features the original logo and we decided on the original green and blue. Next we incorporated the large Oak Tree that sits between the Cabins & Multi-Purpose Building as well as the waters of the Catawba River which surround our 100-acre island. Throughout the building process, Jared would send us updates on the status of the sign. He kept hinting to “upgrades” he’d be adding. We couldn’t of been more excited!

On March 11th we received a call from Jared where he not only let us know the sign was ready but that he had surprised us by already installing it. We piled in the Golf Cart and rushed up to see the final sign! We were blown away by the final product!

Here at Canaan, we do not believe in random circumstances. We are so thankful that our Heavenly Father connected us with Arc and for them to see our need for a sign. Arc Energy Services went above and beyond on this project, we still smile every time we pull up to the island and see it. If you haven’t seen it, be sure to stop by and take a look! Thank you so much to Roddy, Jared and the entire Arc team for your service to Canaan!