Other Voices

In 2015, John Haluska took it upon himself to start sprucing up Guilderland’s historic markers.

His work caused a bit of a stir when the late Guilderland town historian, Alice Begley, learned that Haluska had already painted 22 markers when she saw a photo of him posing before a half-painted sign in the Sept. 8, 2016 Altamont Enterprise.

Begley had been, said Town Supervisor Peter Barber at the time, in charge of an ongoing process of repainting signs, as needed; signs were picked up by the highway department, Barber said, and taken back to the department’s shop for sandblasting, followed by repainting with paints provided by the state, in the correct colors.

Haluska is now working with the town as highway crew members have repaired broken signs. He continues to spray paint the signs in place, using Midnight Blue and then highlighting the raised letters in Sunburst Yellow.

Haluska considers Begley’s booklet, “Historic Markers in the Town of Guilderland,” published in 1994, which shows an image of each sign and tells the story behind it, to be “a treasure trove of information, information so well researched.”

He is hoping for “triple-digit attendance” when he speaks, through Zoom, to the Guilderland Historical Society on Feb. 17 at 7:30 p.m. about his project.

Haluska explains in this week’s Enterprise podcast that he was inspired to paint Guilderland’s markers after he drove into Greenville more than a decade ago and “was greeted with these wonderfully freshly painted signs.” He learned it was an Eagle Scout project and said to himself, “I’d like to do that for the town.”

Read the full article here: https://altamontenterprise.com/02132022/john-haluska-have-brush-will-emblazon-history