Sign welcomes visitors to Nashua

any groups, the welcome center sign is up and ready for all to enjoy!This has been a long process for Boy Scout Caleb Winters but well worth the time and effort it took for him to get this far. Friday afternoon Jeremy Day from Daybuilt Construction, Caleb Winters and other volunteers installed the new Gateway to Northeast Iowa Welcome Center sign.The project began a couple years ago with a conversation between then Welcome Center Director Marleen Weigand and Boy Scout Leader Rick Baxter.. It will now end with the completion of Winters’ project making Nashua a more beautiful place to live and visit.Winters’ has put in many hours into his project to make the Nashua community better. There have been a few bumps in the road along the way.  There were many discussions about the sign project at different meetings but last fall the groundwork was all done for the sign and all the money was raised.Winters held a Spaghetti Supper fundraiser, set out collection jars and received donations from numerous businesses and residents to finish his project.“Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong,” said Winters. Spring came and everyone was looking forward to seeing the new sign installed but then the unthinkable happened. Cedar River Signs in Charles City had a fire in their building.  They did not have any fire damage but did suffer smoke and soot damage which meant the Gateway to Northeast Iowa Welcome Center sign was ruined.“In the future it will help me show that I was responsible and determined to get stuff done,” said Winters. He is really happy to have the project done and now will be working on the final paperwork for the Eagle Scout award for the Boy Scout Council to review.The Nashua-Plainfield Boy Scout Pack #57 is far from done with the Eagle Scout projects though while two are finishing paperwork, two more will be starting their projects soon.            This is a great honor for the Boy Scouts who choose to finish their Eagle Scout projects and each one of them need to be congratulated for helping their community to become a better place for residents and visitors.