December was a bad month for birthdays– at least if you wanted birthday greetings posted on the sign at All American Car Wash on Long Street. Since 1980, the Tiger Fuel-owned All American has wished locals happy birthday and given them their 15 seconds of fame.

And then one day, nothing. The sign disappeared, leading to speculation the car wash was being sold or torn down.

The answer, my friend, was blowing in the wind, or more precisely, “The wind blew that sucker down,” says George Shore, who took charge of changing the birthdays every day during the week. The wind “snapped” the old sign off at least three, if not four weeks ago, says Shore. “I’m glad I wasn’t up on the ladder when it happened.”

Shore has a new sign ordered, and it should be up around the beginning of the year. “As soon as I’ve got it up, I’ve got birthdays,” says Shore, who estimates he’s had between 60 and 70 calls since the sign went down.

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