The iconic Hi Tops restaurant sign, a piece of Peterborough’s history, needs a new home.
The 20-foot sign had been on display on Hot Belly Mama’s in downtown Peterborough, but owner Travis Smith closed the restaurant earlier this year because of the pandemic.
“Ever since Hot Belly Mama’s closed we knew this day would come and now it has,” writes Bill Kimball on Facebook. “The long-term goal is to restore the sign, as nearly all the neon has been saved and is ready to be reunited with the sign itself. But until the plans and financing are put in place for that, it needs to be stored and I do not have space at my home.”
Kimball, artistic director of Public Energy, was instrumental in saving the sign back in 2013, when owner Ed Hum closed the former Hi Tops restaurant on George Street in downtown Peterborough. Kimball asked Hum (who has since passed away) if he could have the sign.
In March 2013, at the invitation of owner Dave Tobey, Kimball agreed to have the sign placed inside The Spill in downtown Peterborough, which was directly across the street from the former Hi Tops restaurant. It was hung on the south wall there in two pieces until The Spill closed permanently in October 2017.
In January 2018, when Smith found out The Spill was closing, he asked Kimball whether he could display the sign in Hot Belly Mama’s. It was displayed there in one piece until Smith closed the restaurant in February, along with the adjoining Olde Stone Brewing Company brew pub and restaurant.
Kimball is now looking for a temporary or permanent home for the sign.
“Can you store it?,” he asks on Facebook. “Or do you have a business that would like to display it?”
Kimball is asking anyone who can help to email him at billkimball22@gmail.com.
On Kimball’s Facebook post, suggestions so far include the basement at Artspace, the Commerce Building foyer, Sadleir House, and the Peterborough Museum and Archives.
On the latter suggestion, Kimball says he already made an inquiry to the museum.
“They can accept artifacts like this but do not restore them,” Kimball writes. “They display them as is. I want to hold out for a restoration.”
