S.C. Billboards: Pit Stop of NASCAVE, Undefeated Champion
Howes Cave, New York
Two billboards for Secret Caverns grab the attention of passing motorists on Hwy 7. Beyond the painful "pit" joke, "Pit Stop of NASCAVE" offers travelers a painted menagerie of Fossil Man, Bigfoot, a Jackalope, Space Invaders, and a glassy-eyed chicken with a comically supersized foam rubber "SC" fan finger. According to the sign it's both two and three miles to Secret Caverns, which painter Todd DelMarter explained as a deliberate exercise in "numerology."
The second billboard, "Undefeated Champion of the Earth," is a Secret Caverns perennial, surviving a decade of weather and bad driving. It's packed with patriotic and pop culture imagery, along with a bat in a jester suit and skeletal cow angel. "It's a favorite," said Todd of the billboard. "We damn near lost it in a wind storm, and I have the scar to prove it."