BRIGHTER FUTURE: Huntly's faded Deka sign will be lit up next week in tribute to its cult-like status.

Follow Aaron Leaman on Twitter

Huntly's beacon of a bygone era is set to get a lot brighter next week when lights are attached to the town's celebrated Deka sign.

As reported by the Waikato Times earlier this year, the faded department store sign has developed a cult-like status among admirers and residents, more than a decade after the fallen chain store shut its doors in Huntly.

Community board chairman Frank McInally said the sign was a bona fide national icon and came up with the idea of having it permanently lit up at night.

He said the sign's owner, businessman Sid Patel, was chuffed by the idea.

"It's all positive for Huntly," Mr McInally said.

"No-one's taking the piss out of us for a change and that's the big thing. It's good for our town and good for the Waikato to celebrate our icons.

"We've been clear that we didn't want the sign jazzed up. We don't want it looking like a new sign.

"We want to keep the historic look of it but everyone loves the idea of hooking up lights to it."

News of the pending illumination has already gone halfway around the world and Mr McInally was predicted a big turnout when the lights were switched on next Friday.

"My daughter in London knew about this within half an hour of it being announced on the radio. I was down in the South Island and me, being a non-drinker, stopped off at a pub in Twizel. The young barman asked me where I was from and I said Huntly. He replied 'that's where the Deka sign is'."

Festivities around the sign are planned from 3pm onwards

"We've got a young fella in Huntly who went overseas and got the Deka signed tattooed on him as identification before he left.

"The tattoo's on his arm, or his arse, I don't know, but he'll be there as well," Mr McInally said.

Deka sign celebrations, Main St, Huntly, June 21, 3pm-7pm.