Lynchburg Regional Airport is in the pink

I received an email the other day from Bonnie Burley Crews, of the Burleys Market Burleys, who pronounced herself perplexed.

She asked: “How come the Lynchburg Airport sign on Wards Road is PINK??????? They took it down and ‘re-furbished’ it around the holidays, and when it was all over, well, it was kind of pinkish. In the early morning light it is really noticeable.

“Now, pink is a nice color and all, and the breast cancer awareness groups have been very successful in their events to increase awareness and funds using pink. But I just don’t see it as relating to our airport. What would Thomas Jefferson say?”

I’m not sure, but I do know what airport director Mark Courtney said. He wasn’t blaming the sign company that did the work, but he acknowledged the color wasn’t exactly what he had in mind.

And it must be conceded, Bonnie Crews’ critique notwithstanding, that we’re not really talking flamingo, bubble gum, Pepto-Bismol pink. Or are we?

“It looks different at different times of the day,” Courtney said. “But it’s also the same color as some of the signs along the access road leading in to the terminal. Maybe that was a consideration in choosing the paint.”

When it was decided the sign was weather-beaten enough to need an upgrade (it was installed during the first Clinton administration), the airport’s choice was to go retro, using the original specs and colors.

“Maybe the paint had changed over the years,” said Courtney. “I was thinking more like a magenta color. This isn’t as attractive.”

It happens.

My wife is an artist, and she’s hardly ever happy with any paint we apply to an interior wall. It never looks quite the same as it does on the paint store’s color sheet.

Personally, I have no real problem with pink. I used to like “Miami Vice,” which had a pink and green motif (although I don’t remember Don Johnson wearing a pink sport coat over his shoulder holster). But somehow, as Bonnie pointed out, we don’t tend to identify the color with airports.

“A similar thing happened when we repainted the terminal roof a few years ago,” Courtney said. “It was supposed to come out lighter than it did.”

Nobody complained about that. Who looks at roofs, anyway?

And even if the current welcome sign is pink, we’ll get used to it in time. Perhaps the feminine connotation of the color will draw more women to the airport.

At any rate, the city is unlikely to spring for a new coat of paint in these tight budget times.

“When it comes time to repaint it,” Courtney said, “we’ll definitely go with a different color. It always seems like a good idea to go back to the original, but it may not have worked in this case.”

Especially on the base of the large sign, which is where it seems the pinkest.

“Maybe it will change color as it weathers,” Courtney said hopefully.