Mark Mikenas has a passion for neon, although that’s not something he tells a lot of people, until now.

Mikenas has collected neon signs over the years and has admired the neon Flemish American Club sign in particular.

“That thing has got to be 85 plus years,” he said.

In its heyday the windmill sign was lit with neon lights, including the paddles of the windmill which rotated around clockwise. The sign was originally posted outside of a house on Stokes Street where a family ran a restaurant. Mikenas said he doesn’t know the complete history of the sign but remembers Dave Clarke writing about it for the Star Courier.

He believes the sign eventually was brought over to the Flemish American Club sometime in the 40s and over the years stopped working.

“We lit it up with a spotlight,” he said.

But last year, Mikenas, fearing the rust-covered sign would simply rot away, approached the board of the Flemish American Club with an offer.

“I told the board I would spearhead raising funds to have it restored,” said Mikenas, a former board member himself.

When the board said yes, Mikenas began raising money and took the sign to a business in Bartonville that specializes in the restoration of neon signs. The owner even offered to purchase the sign, which of course, Mikenas turned down.

“It’s very close to being completed,” he said.

It took stripping off 15 layers of paint to discover that underneath all that paint was porcelain, he said.

“It’s been quite a year of finding out about it and doing it,” said Mikenas.

But renovating a sign as unique as the windmill sign isn’t cheap. The cost is $15,000 plus. Mikenas said he’s been able to raise most of it through generous donations, but there’s still about $4,500 to go.

That’s why this Saturday, May 3, the Flemish American Club is hosting PhatBoys BBQ in their parking lot from noon to 5 p.m. People can drop by and grab some food and go or eat inside the club, which will be open and serving beverages. Part of the proceeds from the day’s sale will go towards restoring the sign.

In addition to the BBQ fundraiser, raffle tickets to win a Traeger Grill will be on sale. The tickets are $5 each or three for $10. The winner will be drawn on May 30.

Mikenas said he hopes fans of the iconic sign will come out to help raise funds.

“If everyone who’s ever enjoyed the sign would just donate $1, we could get this done,” he said.

Mikenas hopes to go to Bartonville to retrieve the completed sign soon.