People gather at the Neon Sign Park’s opening on Saturday, April 13, 2019.

“WE DID IT, CASA GRANDE,” reads the special 16-page tabloid on its first page. “GRAND OPENING.” These words are superimposed over a picture of a 1953 sign advertising a place called the Horse Shoe Motel. It’s daylight in the photo, but it’s obvious from the glass tubes stretched across it that this is a classic midcentury neon sign, the kind whose dramatic red glow could be seen in the distance on dark nights in the Arizona desert—the kind that defined the visual language of an era.

Today, the Horse Shoe Motel sign stands proudly among a group of other signs in downtown Casa Grande, Arizona (pop. 50,000), about halfway between Phoenix and Tucson. The signs, once roadside markers that pointed travelers to businesses, are now obsolete, advertising companies that no longer need neon—or no longer exist.

But that doesn’t mean the iconic landmarks are going to waste. Now, thanks to a true community effort, they’re being displayed again in the town’s brand-new Neon Sign Park, which opened on April 13, 2019. Ultimately, 14 signs from historic Casa Grande—and one from Route 66—will stand tall and light up the night.

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