POCATELLO — The Oasis Bar and 210 Club signs in downtown Pocatello have been relit after more than 20 years as part of the Relight the Night committee’s effort to restore historic neon signs across town.

The last time the signs were fully operational was around the 1990s, according to Relight the Night Chairman Randy Dixon, who led the effort to relight the signs on North Main Street. The signs were officially relit on Aug. 6.

The Oasis Bar and 210 Club signs are among 20 neon signs Relight the Night has helped restore since the organization began working to relight its first sign, from the Chief Theatre, in 2013.

Dixon said the 210 Club sign was being stored in a basement after having been removed decades ago. The Oasis Bar sign, which bears the name of the oldest bar in town, was in its current spot but only partially functional when Dixon and his committee started restoring it.

The restoration venture for the two signs cost more than $2,000 for fresh paint, new neon, digital light timers and wiring, Dixon said. Much of the money came from the committee, which is funded by grants and donations, but the building’s owners also footed some of the bill.

Dixon called the price tag a “deal” and said the committee “got lucky” that the signs weren’t in worse shape.

“Sometimes it’s hard and you just have to make it work as inexpensively as you can,” he said. “You can’t take every one down and completely restore and rewire them. You just try to make them work, and that’s what we did here.”

Dixon said the project was “very exciting” and that it’s something Pocatello residents can be proud of because there’s not “another city in the country that I know of that has accomplished more than we have here.”

“None of this would have been possible without the support and involvement of the city of Pocatello, Relight the Night, building owners and the entire community,” he said. “This is historic preservation at its best.”

Relight the Night is passionate about its mission to breathe life back into historic signage across Pocatello. Since its conception, the group has helped restore neon signs for Chopstick Café, Greyhound Bus Depot, Key Bank, Meyers Shoe Repair, Odd Fellows Hall I.O.O.F., the Pocatello High School Indian, the Bannock Memorial Star and the Paris building — to name a few.

“It’s something I believe in,” Dixon said. “Over the years, we have had to convince businesses to restore their signs, convince them that it’s to their benefit and that they’re worth something. They improve the value of their buildings and they preserve the history that surrounds the site.”

The committee has several more signs of interest on the horizon, though Dixon told the Idaho State Journal he wasn’t quite ready to share details on those prospective and upcoming projects.

“We’ve got our eyes on a couple of signs,” he said, adding that he’d keep the community posted.