This last Wednesday, January 31, Historical Museum Advisory Board Chair John Honan was pleased to award the 2024 Louisville Pioneer Award at the annual Chamber of Commerce Awards Dinner.

Louisville would not be the community that it is today if there had not been individuals stepping up as leaders to make it a better place for others. Since 1985, the City of Louisville’s Historical Museum Advisory Board has annually given the Pioneer Award to people in recognition of their contributions, in spirit and time, in promoting the interests and future of the City of Louisville through his/her or their personal service to the community and its residents. 

This year’s recipient of the Pioneer Award is Louisville’s own sign painter Ed Helmstead. You might not know Ed but if you have ever been to downtown Louisville you know his work. Ed’s signs can be found up and down Main and Front Streets and throughout Louisville, enhancing the special feeling of the downtown area. Check out, for example, the Moxie signs, the front and side of the Louisville Historical Museum or the multitude of signs at the corner of Pine and Front Street. And, don’t miss his most recent work, the sign on the Grain Elevator downtown.

Ed was born in Brooklyn and grew up in New Jersey. He says didn’t particularly like art in high school although he managed to win first prize in his school’s art show with what he now says was a hurried-up piece of work. While Ed never had any formal art training and insists he is not an artist, art is perhaps the best word to describe the unique skills he bring to his efforts.

While we all appreciate the results of Ed’s work, we may not pay attention to the special character of his signs that encourage us to enter local businesses and point the way to Main Street. Using both old time techniques and more modern technology, Ed works to create original signs that both grab our attention and convey within 2-3 seconds the nature of the subject business. To accomplish that, Ed likes to stick to plain lettering that pops, sometimes with a colorful background. Other techniques include wood carving, gold leaf and frosted crystal. Sometimes the signs are on the side of the building or hanging in the air; other times an A-frame serves  to pique our interest and point us in the right direction. Ed’s original signs are denoted by a small “Eddidit” signature with the date of the sign following.  

And while his original signs might be the most interesting, Ed has also painted a variety of corporate logos such as the Coca Cola sign on the side of the Louisville Historical Museum. As an aside, it should be noted that Ed’s skills are not limited to signs; he is also known for putting logos on the side of race cars and painting old locomotives, including several at the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden. 

In short, Ed’s signs have contributed to the character of the downtown Louisville area for which we can all be thankful.