VIDEO: New N.H. Welcome Sign Unveiled

State officials and tourism industry leaders gathered at the Interstate 93 Welcome Center in Salem Monday for the unveiling of a newly-designed sign to welcome motorists to the Granite State.

Gov. John Lynch, state Department of Resources and Economic Development Commissioner George Bald and state Department of Transportation Commissioner Chris Clement pulled the tarp off the 10-by-16 blue, green and white sign.

The sign includes a bilingual greeting in English and French, the state's name and its motto, "Live Free or Die." Besides Salem, five other New Hampshire communities, including Portsmouth, will soon have these new welcoming signs.

"Travel and tourism is obviously very, very important to the state of New Hampshire," Lynch said. "And we want the visitors of New Hampshire to fall in love with our great state. We want to welcome them to New Hampshire and I think you'll agree that the signs we're unveiling today will do that job."

The design includes what state Travel and Tourism Development Director Lori Harnois said were "the main attributes that our research told us about why people come to New Hampshire."

That includes mountains, beaches and trails. Within the design, the letters "NH" are visible in cursive.

Harnois said the state has been working for two years on a new advertising campaign for New Hampshire and a new "brand identity."

Clement said five 10-by-16 signs will be going up across the state with one 5-by-9 sign set to go up on I-95 in Portsmouth. In addition to Salem, the other four signs will be located on the Everett Turnpike in Nashua, I-95 in Seabrook, I-93 in Littleton and I-89 in Lebanon.

According to Clement, each larger sign cost $1,600 to produce while the smaller sign cost $600. While the Salem sign will be going up on I-93 very early Tuesday morning, Clement said the implementation of the other signs will be staggered.

Bald said the new signs are part of a plan to promote the state's critical tourism industry.

"We expect during the (fall) season we'll have 7.9 million visitors," he said. "That brings in about $1 billion to the state's economy...A lot of people work hard to make sure our visitors have a good time when they are here."