YGK Sign Wars heating up after Friendly Fires ignites the battle

Kingston is jumping on the bandwagon of sign wars to keep up spirits during this third round of pandemic lockdown.

On Thursday, Apr. 29, 2021, Friendly Fires was the first to call out another local business, telling Gilmours “We have the grills. Where’s the beef” on their Dalton Avenue sign.

The next day, Friday, Apr 30, Gilmours responded with their digital sign. “Hey Friendly Fires, the last business that challenged us to a sign war ‘GOT SMOKED!!!'” You can see the video on Gilmours Market’s Facebook Page.

Friday also saw Paulette’s Auto Sales call out Raxx on their sign on Bath Road. “Hey Raxx? No one playing with your balls?” Of course, Raxx took the bait. “Hey Paulette! Where did my Van Gogh?”

Paul’s Auto jumped to Raxx’s defence later that same day. “Hey Paulette Auto. Leave Raxx’s balls alone!”

On the same day, Haven Home Climate Care got saucy with Go Italian on their sign. “Hey Go Italian! We ain’t alfredo no sign war!” While retaliation hasn’t been spotted yet, Go Italian warned on their Facebook page “Ohhhhh Haven Home ClimateCare ITS ON! Stay tuned “

On Saturday, May 1, Compton Propane Service shared a shout out back to Friendly Fires. “Hey Friendly Fires. We got gas! Oh wait… that backfired!”

Also on Saturday, May 1, 2021, Dog Minds Training and Grooming on Baker Court joined in the fun, despite having no street exposure.

“We may not have a road sign but we can still have fun, can’t we?” the business posted on Facebook, tagging in Pet Valu Kingston.

But Kingsdale Chateau retirement residence took it one step further, putting lawn signs and decorations out to tell their friends at a local hearing clinic about the new trend.

“Frontenac Hearing Clinic, We can’t hear U #SignWar,” they put on their lawn on Kingsdale

On Monday, May 3, 2021, the battle continued, with Daft Brewery on Princess Street making the first strategic move. “1 2 3 4 I declare a sign war” they wrote out on the sign out front of their downtown Princess Street location.

And it didn’t take long for local businesses to clap back, with both Absolute Comedy Club and The Mansion responding.

“5 6 7 8, OK Daft, We took the bait,” the Mansion snapped back from just down the street. And further out Princess Street, “Hey Daft, 5 6 7 8, This should be a piece of cake,” Absolute Comedy retorted.

Then, local elementary schools started to get in on the game, with Glenburnie Public School taking aim at their neighbour, Storrington Public School.

“Hey! Storrington P.S., Can’t sting a Grizzly!” they said, referring to the Storrington and Glenburnie team names, the Stingers and the Grizzlies.

But Storrington PS took no time to engage in the battle.

Using both sides of their sign, they responded to Glenburnie PS “Hey GPS, Teddy bears, not grizzly bears, get invited in for honey!” and took on Granite Ridge Education Centre, saying, “Float like a butterfly, Sting like a bee, @GREC what do Griffins do?”

And on Tuesday, May 4, 2021, Central Public School joined in the Limestone District School Board’s faction within the Sign Wars.

“Game on!” Central Public tweeted at Sydenham Public and Glenburnie Public, pulling puns over the school’s mascots with their signs.

Tuesday also saw a retort from Frontenac Hearing Clinic.

Tagging Atria Kingsdale Chateau on Facebook, the hearing clinic said, “We don’t have an outdoor sign… so we are making this work! Hey, Frontenac Chiropractic and Sports Rehab -Kingston: You’re up!”

Paradiso Pizza in Inverary got in on the fun on Tuesday, as well.

“Who wants a pizza us?” they called out to their fellow local, rural businesses.

Over in Stone Mills, McCormick’s Store took a shot, calling out fellow local business, Abrams Bakery.

Then it was time for the kids (or, at least, those who care for them) to get involved, calling on local authorities for support during their part in the unruly battle.

“Kingston Police, tag, you’re it!!!!!” Coppens Academy Childcare Centre posted on Facebook, tagging the local police with a photo of their window sign that reads “Hey Kingston Police, we may need back-up, our kids are resisting A-REST!!!”

And, of course, the local car dealerships continued their sparring, with Kingston Dodge calling out Petrie Ford with a sign saying, “Petrie Ford, we’re busy Wrangler-ing your Broncos. You can’t Escape us!”

Tuesday also saw the teams we count on for putting out fires lighting some of their own… with signs, that is. A little back and forth between Loyalist Fire and Rescue and the Greater Napanee Fire Department went as follows:

The melee of the signage in Kingston only intensified over Wednesday, May 5 and Thursday, May 6, 2021. Coppens Academy, who’d proven themselves a worthy opponent when they took on Kingston Police, continued their attacks with ‘childish’ wit.

“Hey Kingston Police, do-nut think we’ll glaze over this or we’ll put you on a ‘time-out,'” the daycare centre painted in their window, tagging Kingston’s most famous donut shop, Coffee Way, in the post. But they weren’t done there.

Taking aim at Kingston Volkswagen, they posed “You think your Autobahn is fast? try chasing our kids!” from their Golden Mile location. And Coppens wasn’t the only childcare facility to join the games.

Bay Park Children’s Centre took on Potter’s Nurseries, telling them, “The kids love planting. They get so excited about gardening that they wet their plants!”

Out in Loyalist Township, one pharmacy had a sign that needs no explanation — one they tagged the OPP in when posting on Twitter.

“Help @OPP_ER, we’ve been robbed!” they said on Twitter. “Shouldn’t be too ‘hard’ to crack the case!”

Down the road, Loyalist Township Recreation joined with gusto, thanks to their programmable light up sign.

And Kingston’s west end saw some sign action, as well, with Taylor AutoMall, Tie One On Creativity Bar, and Arabesque Academy of Dance waging war, the latter calling out Kingston Humane Society.

And Twitter user @Darke_Conteur gave us a side-by-side of the acid-tongued text skirmish between Holway and Hutchinson Insurance and Wendy’s in the west end.

And while we’re all trying to stay home as much as possible to stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus and its variants, what better way to make a car ride entertaining than to play #YGKSignWars spotting? Here are some of our favourites from the past two days:

And, of course, our area schools have continually upped their game throughout the week, with Perth Road Public School jumping into the sign siege on Wednesday, May 5, 2021.

But Bayridge Secondary School took the game into their own hands, and got out their red pens to edit the rule book, changing #YGKSignWars to #YGKSignPeace.

We’ve seen some great replies to callouts over the last week. Potter’s nursery, in reply to Bay Park Children’s Centre had this delicious retort:

And Taylor Auto Mall returned fire at Haven Home Climate Care, asking on their Facebook page: “Okay Haven Home ClimateCare can we COOL IT? #ygksignwars#truce“

David’s Optical was seen by Kingston resident Ashley Perna getting in on the fun with their hand-written contribution.

Continuing their Princess Street rivalry, Daft Brewery and Absolute Comedy added some more banter to our local sign wars.

Empire Court Plaza jumped onboard late last week as well, with both Fractal Workspace and Pita Pit Empire Court calling out some neighbours.

Out at the Invista Centre the City of Kingston responded to Loyalist’s call out back on Wednesday, May 5. “We don’t want to be dis-Loyalist, but from this Amherst-view, you need a Bath!”

We also spotted a fun bit of banter between Urban Paws and Calyx + Trichomes Cannabis – we love the wordplay!

Wednesday, May 12 saw some more call outs around town, including Daft Brewery who’s really into these sign wars!

Pampered Pups by Jamie asked for a handout from their neighbour, Atkinson Home Hardware Building Centre. “Can you give us a break on lumber, our pups need a new Woof!”

More west end fun from Kingston Mortgage Solutions, making a play on the City’s new Burn Permits.

The East Side Mario’s location on Division Street in Kingston’s north end played to their menu’s strengths and called on Montana’s BBQ & Bar with some pasta puns that are all-you-can-take — hold the salad and the soup.

And An Apple A Daycare challenged Captain George’s Fish and Chips to a game of “Salmon Says.” Will they take the bait?

Way north of the city, in Chaffey’s Lock, they’ve been alerted to the sign war going on in and around the limestone city. We hope they don’t think they’re far enough away to avoid repercussions!

And slipping into the signage battle royale at the end of the workday on Thursday, May 13, 2021, Bermuda Limousine — who went to the lengths of purchasing the supplies to construct a sign in order to join in the games — poked fun at two businesses already entrenched in the Sign Wars with a little innuendo.

A good joke or a kind message can go a long way right now, so keep it up Kingston (and Frontenac, Napanee, Amherstview, Loyalist and even Chaffey’s Lock) — let’s keep smiling and laughing together, even when we need to be apart.

What will we see in the coming days? Stay tuned and as we continue to follow the YGK Sign Wars! Let us know if you see any participants with #YGKSignWars or via email at [email protected].