The Mystery of the L-A-R-G-O Letters

What happened to the LARGO letters?

That's a question we here at Patch have been fielding for the past several months, ever since the large white letters that spelled out L-A-R-G-O disappeared from the southwest corner of West Bay Drive.

The letters, which were originally designed to be part of the city's holiday lighting decorations, became polarizing points of contention for people all over town.

Whether you're on the side that loved the letters or hated them, most everyone wants to know, what the heck happened to them?!

"The letters are put away," City Manager Norton 'Mac" Craig told Patch. "(Parks superintendent) Greg Brown took them down and stored them somewhere, and they'll be back up next Christmas."

The mystery of where the letters are might be solved, but not the question of what their purpose was.

If they were truly supposed to be part of the holiday lights, then why were they not taken down until well after the New Year?

Craig says there was some talk about making the structure a permanent fixture of the area. But that decision was quickly scrapped when they realized what they were dealing with.

"They were too far apart, so they would've had to pour concrete foundations to fit them in to," he said. "We're trying to improve the downtown and those letters didn't really fit in with what we're trying to do."

Craig said that the city is in the planning stages of placing a more artistic sign at the corner to mark the edge of the downtown district, an issue recently discussed by the Downtown Merchants Association.

But despite that plan and the letters' somewhat controversial nature, Largo residents and visitors can expect to see the sign on the corner again in the future.

"They look nice at Christmastime, and we'll have them back up there then," Craig said.

What's your opinion of the LARGO letters? Let us know in the comments below.