Family-owned Young Electric opens its new facility in Salt Lake City

SALT LAKE CITY (Deseret News) — A tour through Young Electric Sign Co.'s new facility is a seemingly endless opportunity to look at pictures and models and say, "I know that sign!" or "You made that one?"

In its 90 years as a family-run business, the company, also called YESCO, has made thousands of signs, from the iconic giant double-scoop Snelgrove cone to the block-long arch over Freemont Street in Las Vegas. It built the Dee's hamburger clown and the Olympic Rings that graced the hillside east of town during the 2002 Games. Painted, vinyl, neon, electric, LED — the company makes them all.

It's also an integral part of the Amber Alert program in Utah and beyond. Utah Attorney Gen. Mark Shurtleff on Wednesday said the company offered to help with crime fighting efforts and to get children who were missing back where they belong. Then YESCO employees created software that will interrupt commercial electric signs to instead broadcast alerts. Ken Porter, Federal Bureau of Investigation assistant special agent in charge, said YESCO and its electric billboard-style signs have been key players in capturing some very bad guys.

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