At Razor's Edge Barber in Lakeland, Sandy Mielzarek put up her barber pole three months ago, eager to let patrons know she was open for business on St. Croix Trail.
Not so fast, said city fathers. A local sign ordinance said the pole couldn't spin.
Mielzarek is among barbers coast to coast who are finding the whirling symbol of Americana is not only dwindling in number, but also is stilled by motion-sign ordinances.
"We've been facing this all over the country," said Bob Marvy, owner of the William Marvy Co. in St. Paul, the last maker of barber poles in North America. Two of the company's poles are in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institution.
He became a crusader for spinning barber poles about 10 years ago in Naples, Fla., after learning of a barber who'd won his fight there to let his pole spin.
It's ridiculous, Marvy said, for officials to lump the barber poles, a universally recognized business symbol, with motion signs that distract drivers.
"It's an amazing thing for a barber to have in front of a shop because you don't have to read, you don't have to do anything. You see that spinning pole, you know there's a barber in there," Marvy said.
"We hate to see the government getting in the way."
