New Abbeville sign welcomes visitors, offers special goodbye

Abbeville is a friendly, hospitable city and now it has a welcome to match.
The city recently added a entrance sign to properly greet visitors who come for the food, music and scenery. The sign is located just off the southbound lane on U.S. Hwy. 167.
“We are very excited about our new entrance sign,” Abbeville Mayor Mark Piazza said.
Replacing the old sign with a new, updated version originated from Councilman-at-Large Francis Plaisance.
“When he approached me about it,” Piazza said, “I agreed that it was a great idea and that I would put it into the budget.”
The Abbeville Council approved the project. That proved to be just one step in what turned into a longer-than-expected process. Because of the sign’s location, the city, with the help of Primeaux, Touchet and Associates, had to work with the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD), something that took nearly three years.
“We had to acquire DOTD approval and permits,” Piazza explained. “This took forever.”
Once everything fell into place in that regard, the details of the sign came into focus.
“After much discussion,” Piazza said, “Francis and I decided to feature Bobby Charles, a nationally renowned songwriter, on the sign.”
Charles, a member of the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame and an Abbeville native, had a great impact on the music industry.
“Bobby’s songs have been recorded by numerous artists,” Piazza said, “such as Fats Domino, Bill Haley and the Comets, the Band, Ray Charles and Neil Young, to name a few. He even has a song on the ‘Forrest Gump’ soundtrack, that he recorded.”
After the city received permission from the Bobby Charles Estate, one of his most recognizable songs is part of the sign, something drives will see when leaving Abbeville.
“When I suggested to Francis that we would put ‘See Ya Later, Alligator’ on the back of the sign,” Piazza said, “he was elated.”
That elation continued Friday morning when city officials gathered to recognize the sign.
“I am very excited about it,” Plaisance said. “I wanted to see us have a real nice sign coming into Abbeville.”
People have taken notice.
“I have had four of five people call me excited about the sign,” Piazza said.
The location is such that the sign, which will eventually be landscaped and lit, will draw plenty of attention.
“It’s installed in a very good place,” Piazza said. “You see it right when you come around the big curve coming into the main entrance to Abbeville.
“It just shows up so well.”
Plaisance, the chairman of the city’s tourism committee, said it is an idea and plan that came together perfectly.
“The idea of the sign was to have something that would appropriately welcome people into Abbeville,” Plaisance said. “We wanted it to be something they could see, that would be attractive, and at the same time, honor someone who had an impact on the national music business.”