{"id":128418,"date":"2026-04-20T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/vince-the-sign-guy-brings-levity-to-vallecito\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T05:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T11:00:00","slug":"vince-the-sign-guy-brings-levity-to-vallecito","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/vince-the-sign-guy-brings-levity-to-vallecito\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Vince the Sign Guy\u2019 brings levity to Vallecito"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Vince
Vince Rozmiarek, aka \u201cVince the Sign Guy,\u201d stands next to his sign close his house on County Road 501 on April 7, near Vallecito Reservoir. He has been displaying daily puns since 2015 and at Vallecito since 2022. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

La Plata County resident Vince Rozmiarek believes his purpose lies in making people laugh. His avenue to fulfilling that purpose? Displaying daily puns on a homemade sign<\/a> near Vallecito.<\/p>\n

The sign, which measures 7 feet by 4 feet, can be found on County Road 501 about 3 miles south of Vallecito Reservoir.<\/p>\n

Some of Rozmiarek\u2019s recent puns include: \u201cThe bee got married because it found its honey,\u201d \u201cPeople are shocked I have a police record, but I just like their music,\u201d and \u201cThe Frenchman mauled by a lion was Claude.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI just love to make people smile,\u201d he said. \u201cEverybody\u2019s always grinding their teeth about the news. I try to do something \u2013 maybe it\u2019s a 30\u2011second distraction. They get halfway up the road, and I give them a smile. Well, that\u2019s worth it. Mission accomplished.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rozmiarek\u2019s pun career began in 2015 while volunteering at the Indian Hills Community Center in Indian Hills.<\/p>\n

He was tasked with building a roadside sign with interchangeable letters for the community center. It was meant to post wedding and event announcements, but what began as dry, informational postings quickly turned into humorous puns and jokes.<\/p>\n

His first joke sign at the community center went up on April Fools\u2019 Day in 2015.<\/p>\n

A popular speed trap on U.S. Highway 285 in Morrison was the inspiration for the sign, which read, \u201cIndian Hills annexed by Morrison: Slow down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rozmiarek recalls the prank working on several residents, passersby and even the fire department, and the rest was history.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy seven o\u2019clock, my phone started ringing,\u201d he said. \u201cMorrison called me, and the fire department called me. It was a big hit.\u201d<\/p>\n

He began putting jokes and puns on the community center\u2019s sign regularly from then on, and has continued the tradition daily since moving to La Plata County in 2022.<\/p>\n

Rozmiarek, 63, estimates he owns about 300 plastic letters for use on the sign, which is constructed from wood and particle board and painted with all\u2011weather paint.<\/p>\n

Most of the feedback he receives is positive \u2013 but not all of it, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI put up a sign that said, \u2018Old McDonald has OCD: E-E-I-I-O,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cSomebody put up a note \u2026 saying I\u2019ve decided to mock people with disabilities. \u2026 And I\u2019m like, \u2018OCD, really? I\u2019ve got OCD. Can\u2019t you see how well these letters are squared up?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

He recalls a resident once complaining that the sign was distracting drivers. But Rozmiarek believes it makes drivers slow down and increases safety on County Road 501.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m like, \u2018Well, let\u2019s call the county and have them remove all the street signs then,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cThe sign slows people down. \u2026 For the most part, people love it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rozmiarek\u2019s notoriety began to climb in Indian Hills, with the original Facebook page advertising his community center sign touting over 300,000 followers, he said.<\/p>\n

His current Facebook page<\/a>, which is run by his wife of 34 years, Kirsten, had 155,000 followers as of mid-April.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started posting, and the next thing you know 9 News in Denver\u2019s coming up,\u201d he said. \u201cThen it went all over the world, and then I interviewed with NPR. \u2026 And that\u2019s how it got famous.\u201d<\/p>\n

His most enduring rule after a decade-plus as a pun expert? Keep politics off the sign.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a lot of followers on both sides of the aisle, and there\u2019s a lot of things ticking off both sides of the aisle right now,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve never really let my true colors come out on the sign, because \u2026 it\u2019s the one refuge for some people that we don\u2019t agree with. They still have that laugh, and we have that connection.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Vince
Vince Rozmiarek, aka \u201cVince the Sign Guy,\u201d pokes the fire at his house on County Road 501 on April 7, near Vallecito Reservoir. He has been displaying daily puns on a sign in front of his house since 2022 next to the road. He said supplying the community with a daily dose of levity is part of his calling. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Rozmiarek\u2019s family members are fans of his pun escapades, he said. He has three grown children, several siblings and extended family members who enjoy his work.<\/p>\n

\u201c(My siblings) love my sign,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd when I go to family events, I\u2019m the cousin Vinny that has the sign. Everybody loves their cousin Vinny. The family\u2019s really proud of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

After more than a decade of daily puns, the inspiration well occasionally runs dry, he said \u2013 which is where his fans come in.<\/p>\n

He collaborates with several enthusiastic fans and community members who send him ideas frequently.<\/p>\n

\u201c(I want to keep doing this) for as long as I can, or if I\u2019ve just put everything imaginable that can be written on a sign, I\u2019ll stop,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll ever get to that point, especially with people sending me stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

The most impactful moment his sign career has fostered involved a man with a terminal illness living in Conifer, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey came out and they called me and they said, \u2018He\u2019s maybe got three days to live: Can you put something on the sign for him?\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cSo I just put a, \u2018Hey Barry, we love you here in Indian Hills.\u2019 And he died a couple days later. \u2026 I was able to touch this guy right before he died, and that really touched me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rozmiarek has experienced several near-death experiences in his life, including his heart stopping as an infant and an accident with a forklift that nearly killed him and cut off a portion of one finger. He has also had extensive treatments for brain abnormalities, he said. Those experiences have only inspired him more in his mission to bring levity and a laugh to those who pass his sign.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was born premature. Died at birth. \u2026 They baptized me three times. \u2026 And then I think about this forklift that should have killed me,\u201d he said. \u201cWell, I guess I\u2019m here for a purpose, and if that purpose is putting a smile on somebody\u2019s face, then that\u2019s what I\u2019m going to keep doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The sign brings joy to Rozmiarek as well as his fans, he said, and acts as an important form of routine.<\/p>\n

\u201cStructure is good,\u201d he said. \u201cHaving something to do is a good thing, and it\u2019s something that my wife and I do together. \u2026 I like reading (funny things) to get material, because it puts me in a good frame of mind. I\u2019m always laughing.\u201d<\/p>\n

epond@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018If (my) purpose is putting a smile on somebody\u2019s face, then that\u2019s what I\u2019m going to keep doing,\u2019 pun connoisseur says<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":128419,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[1357,1820,28,714,1142,6419,1500],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-128418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-contests","tag-dh-trueanthem","tag-headlines","tag-human-interest","tag-profile","tag-tj-trueanthem","tag-vallecito"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128418\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128418"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=128418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}