GREEN BAY (NBC26) — The sign in front of Wally's Spot Supper Club may soon have a new home at the Neville Public Museum. The museum's executive director Beth Kowalski-Lemke says the museum is working with the owner to add the sign to its Generations Gallery.
"In conversations with the business owner, we're hoping that we can safely preserve and restore and re-house the Wally's Spot large sign that's outside their front right now," Kowalski-Lemke said.
The Generations Gallery includes artifacts from throughout Northeast Wisconsin's history. The exhibit already has several artifacts from local restaurants, which is why Kowalski-Lemke says the Wally's Spot sign would make the perfect addition.
"We have a section on downtown Green Bay, Washington Street, we have a Kaap's booth that was acquired, we have a sign from Stiller Photography Company, so it fits in nicely with some of the large artifacts we already have," she said.
Wally’s owner Tom Adamany says when the museum approached him about donating the sign, he was glad to have it taken off his hands.
“In 1962 we bought it and I don’t think the sign is legal anymore because of all the flashing so it's nice it's going to the museum,” Adamany said.
Kowalski-Lemke says the museum hopes to feature the historic supper club in the gallery with other artifacts from the restaurant in addition to the sign.
"We would capture other donations that he he might consider giving to us like menus and just some of the memorabilia that's tied to the restaurant," she said.
But taking the sign apart and moving it to the museum will be no easy task. She estimates the neon portion of the sign is about four and a half by eight and a half feet, and the drum portion is about ten to eleven feet in diameter.
"Until we can actually get on site and actually be able to lift off the pieces, we won't have a full chance to understand what we would need to do from a conservation standpoint or a restoration standpoint."
She estimates the entire process would take about six months to a year before it could be on display at the museum. Adamany says he’s happy to see a small piece of his historic restaurant be preserved.
“Everything else is going to get knocked down so at least we have a sign to live on,” he said.
"We look forward to being able to preserve that for generations to come," Kowalski-Lemke said."That's what we do is when sometimes things can't be outside anymore it's our job here as the public museum to make sure that we're making it publicly accessible in a safe and memorable way."
