The red nose returns! Portland sign turns festive starting Wednesday
It’s a sure sign of the holiday season. On Wednesday night, the red nose on the Portland, Oregon White Stag sign will be illuminated.
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – It’s a sure sign of the holiday season. On Wednesday night, the red nose on the Portland, Oregon White Stag sign will be illuminated.
Every year during the holiday season, the stag on the Portland sign over Old Town resembles Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer.
For most of the year, the red nose light stays off -- but for the holidays, it glows bright.
The sign was first installed above the White Stag Building in Portland in 1940. Initially, it was the White Satin Sugar sign, according to Ramsay Signs, the company that installed it.
Over the years, the sign transformed into what we see on Portland’s west side today.
In 1978, Ramsay Signs said the sign became a designated historic landmark and in 2010, it was donated to the City of Portland.
However, Ramsay Signs still maintains it and its employees are the ones who turn on the red nose every year.
The red nose is traditionally illuminated the evening before Thanksgiving.
Wendy Gibson from Ramsay Signs said the White Stag sign is on a timer and turns on between 4 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. So, that’s the time on Wednesday when Portlanders should watch for their first view of the red nose.
The sign turns off in the morning at around 6 or 7 a.m., Gibson said.
The red nose will be turned off the first week of January.