Geoff Helisma | In last week’s story, ‘Power to the poles’, the Independent explored the legality of the wide-spread signage that was erected around the Lower Clarence advertising Circus Phoenix, which played at the Maclean showground from Wednesday February 14 to Sunday 18. Over the past week the reaction on the Independent’s facebook site was overwhelmingly in favour of the signs. Most of the comments were related to how the advertising had resulted in people attending the circus and having a good time. Julie Innes: “I thought their advertising was very effective.” Susan Polsen noted that “they took them down in Grafton pretty quick”, and observed that there “were more there than in the Maclean area”. Leanne Moran said they “didn’t bother” her. “Signs were everywhere but they looked great and where informative. “We went to the circus and loved it.” Simon Opalniuk said: “Great thing for our town, the circus coming here, and people [who] want to complain about signs; pains in the arse.” There were no complaints about the signs on the Independent’s facebook site; the closest comment to that was Vicki Smith’s, who “counted 12” on her seven kilometre drive to Palmers Island. However, there were several posts complaining about people complaining. Comments like Amy Essex’s: “People whinge about nothing good ever coming to town, then complain when something does.” Renee Shepherd said: “Surely there are better things to worry about than the amount of signs they used! Their advertising worked and they removed them after, move on people.” Laura Stott could see the value of the signs in getting the message out, posting: “Oh golly, it’s a great little show, hope they got the numbers, saw them in Lismore and hardly anyone there. “It’s a few weeks of advertising then they take it down and move on.” Elle Causley said the “signage was fantastic; they sure got the word out there and removed it all after the show. No harm done.” However, each of the entities that police signage – Clarence Valley Council, Roads and Maritime Authority and Essential Energy – has policies that limit or prohibit the erection of signs on their infrastructure. None of the entities indicated that they would be taking action against the operators of Circus Phoenix in last week’s story.