b'LEGACY ENTERPRISE embraces a new generation Grass Valley Sign Co. cultivates a new ownerE d Townsends signs can be seen all overBy Trina KleistNevada County. Business signs, church signs and fundraising thermometers. Banners that hang and placards you stick in the dirt. Fire trucks, ambulances, cop cars and public agency pick-ups. Decals for your car and giant, m ounted photos of your grandkids. For 36 years, Townsends Grass Valley Sign Co., on Loma Rica in Grass Valley, has offered high quality, creative design, fast-turn-around, innovative products and a smile.Extra credit if you bring treats for Arrow, Townsends little mutt and welcoming committee.Seven years ago, Townsend hired a high school kidnamed William Brewer. I could use Photoshop, and I could sweep a mean floor, says Brewer, now 26. Well, even his Photoshop was pretty simple, Townsend quips affectionately.Nevertheless, as Brewer tells it, Townsend interviewed him on a Wednesday and asked him to return that Friday. I came in, and I never left!Brewer finished an associate degree in naturalscience through Ghidotti Early College High SchoolClockwise, from top:in Grass Valley. When not in school, he learned theBusiness coach Jill Meeuwsen sign business from the floor up, building on theis helping William Brewer as design skills he had awakened when creating albumhe transitions into ownership of covers for his garage band.Grass Valley Sign Co., on Loma Meanwhile, Townsend married KatherineRica. Katherine Townsend helps in the office of Townsend, a U.S. Army medic and registered nurseGrass Valley Sign, founded by her husband, Ed who also helps in the front office. Active, involvedTownsend, in 1984. Ed Townsend started out in the business lettering signs by hand but has seen and staring down 70, Townsend began thinking ofmany changes. Tim Corkins, with Nevada County other things he could be doing besides running aEconomic Resource Council, Inc., which provides a wide business. When Townsend started talking aboutrange of consulting and networking. William Brewer retirement a few years ago, Brewer realized thatlearned the sign business from the floor up, and now hes Grass Valley Sign Co. was the niche he had beenexpanding into vehicle wraps. At the shop, youll meet seeking. It combined a wide range of designSiggy, Brewers Siberian husky. Arrow is Townsends mixed-opportunities with hands-on creativity, plus room tobreed welcoming committee. Amanda Elliott directs the experiment and grow. I just kind of jumped on it,California Main Street Alliance; the Grass Valley Downtown Brewer says. I cant think of doing anything else. Association is a member of the alliance.With Will, its almost like turning the business over to a son, Townsend adds. Hell not only carrythe friend on a family visit, I fell in love with the area. The day after he it on, but hell expand it. got back home, Townsend enrolled at a trade college to learn the craft. He LOCAL BUSINESS: MORE THANstarted his sign business in 1984.JUST AN INVESTMENT That was 10 years before I was born, Brewer notes with a grin.While building a business that also supports his community, Townsend Townsend hails from southern California. Hehas evolved as the technology moved from silk-screening to computerized founded his first business, a hang-gliding school, indesign, to cutting images from vinyl and applying them like decals onto a his 20s. I knew I needed to do something else withsurface, to digital printing onto the vinyl directly. In his off time, he earned a my life, he recalls. Through a friend, he learnedfifth-degree black belt in kung fu, became certified as a personal trainer and about lettering; this was back in the days beforeteaches a spinning class at South Yuba Club in Grass Valley. Passionate about computers, when skilled craftspeople painted signscycling, Townsend pedals the yearly Agony Ride, a 24-hour, up-and-down-the-by hand. The friends parents, it turns out, lived inmountains bicycle fundraiser benefiting Christian Encounter Ministries, a Grass Valley, and when Townsend accompaniedyouth camp south of Grass Valley.20Business 2020'