Locally owned signs spark pride in businesses

If you’ve strolled down Main Street lately, you may have noticed something new catching your eye: simple but powerful signs that proudly read, “Locally Owned.” These markers of community pride are the work of Hill City resident and small business owner  Wesley Murphey.

Murphey, owner of Black Hills Carved Signs, has been crafting custom redwood signs in Hill City for the past 12 years. He created the locally owned signage as a way to highlight and support fellow local businesses.

“It was important for people to be able to recognize what is and what isn’t locally owned. What money is going into the community and staying in the community,” he said.

The gesture comes shortly after social media was a buzz with concerns of another T-shirt shop replacing the Ben West Gallery, a cornerstone of Hill City’s once thriving art scene.

“Hill City used to be known as the art city…now the artists’ canvas, brushes and other media has turned into a T-shirt not even made in our country,” said one post on the topic. 

Murphey hopes the signs will encourage residents to shop local, but also resonate with visitors as well—especially those from other small towns or who run small businesses themselves. 

“I think that a lot of the people that come here are from smaller towns or have their own small businesses, and it’s important for them to see what is and what isn’t locally owned,” said Wesley. 

For Angela Ross, owner of First Impressions Salon, the gesture meant a lot.  

“It’s the best gift I’ve ever received in my 25 years of business,” said Ross. Her sign is posted in the front window of her Main Street hair salon.

“He did it just out of the goodness of his heart,” she said. “The fact that he thinks it’s important for everybody to know who’s locally owned and everything is pretty unbelievable.”

“It was a very neighborly and generous gesture,” said Mike Gallucci, owner of Things That Rock. He said the signs are catching the eye of passers-by. 

“We’ve actually had people walk by and go, ‘Oh look, that one’s locally owned,’” said Gallucci. 

Murphey invites other local Hill City business owners to stop by Black Hills Carved Signs and pick up their own sign, free of charge.

“People can just come down and pick them up as a locally-owned business. Community is important,” he said. “Keeping money in the community is important. Without it, the community loses its charm, the community loses its personality, and it just becomes another pit stop on the way to somewhere else.”