Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN/WGR 550) - It's quite the sight to behold for any Bills fans that may find themselves at the corner of Wellington Road and Hertel Avenue in the City of Buffalo.
Following Sunday's 24-20 win over the Kansas City Chiefs that saw Josh Allen hurdle, yet, another player, an image of the Bills quarterback has been placed over the street signs at the corner of the intersection, making it appear Allen is hurdling over "Hurdle" Avenue.
"We saw this on Twitter, and it was somebody putting up the sign for Hertel, spelled "Hurdle" and with Josh Allen leaping over it. This is a one and only thing that you could see in Buffalo," said Bills fan Chris who traveled to get a picture with the sign.
Behind the now infamous Josh Allen "Hurdle" Avenue sign is Rory Allen, owner of ZoomBuffalo.com. As Allen explains, it's a fun ongoing effort to find ways to show the Bills quarterback hurdling over Buffalo landmarks every time he takes a leap over an opposing player.
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"We've been doing these kinds of things since the last time Josh hurdled somebody, which was, I believe, the Chiefs game last year, and we put a similar cut out, a photograph from that game over the Allentown sign in Allentown, on the corner of Main and Allen," said Allen of the cutout picture over Hertel Avenue. "So in the tradition of that, we felt like we needed to keep going with this every time he jumps over somebody."
Allen will even admit that these efforts may be taken a bit too far on purpose, but always in a fun way. He says the group at ZoomBuffalo.com is only tyring to keep things fun, while entertaining people along the way.
"In this case, we want to just give somebody a place to go take a picture in front of a moment we'll all remember for a long time as Bills fans, as a great night, as well as just an amazing moment," Allen said.
The hype surrounding the Bills is certainly a major talking point this year in Western New York, especially with the team currently sitting at 5-1 heading into the Week 7 bye. The team will return to game action on Sunday, Oct. 30 for a prime-time matchup with Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers on "Sunday Night Football" at Highmark Stadium.
For Bills fans like Chris, he lived through the Bills of the 1990s, even attending two of the four-straight Super Bowls the team went to during that time. 30 years later, Chris feels the same hype surrounding the team as he then did, and the feeling is unbelievable.
"It is just wonderful what's happening," he said. "It's a different vibe than when we won back in the early '90s, and it's a great vibe. It's a great vibe then, and it's a great time now."
While the Josh Allen "Hurdle Avenue" sign is certainly unique and special to the Bills right now, Rory Allen and his team at ZoomBuffalo.com have been working on other projects over the past few years with the team continuing to take the NFL by storm.
"It started because our designer, Josh Federice, was basically playing a lot of video games with Josh Allen and Stefon Diggs in the evenings, playing Call of Duty during COVID," Allen said. "We had done a 'Jeff Skinner for Mayor' sign a year prior, as kind of celebrating him. With that in mind, he had been playing video games with them. Football players, at the time, didn't have a whole lot to do except for playing video games. Just like the rest of us, there wasn't a whole world of entertainment for them, they were stuck at home. That summer before Diggs was on the team, they were all sort of online playing these games, and my designers thought of that, and presented it to me the next morning, without any conversation with those two.
"From there, it just sparked something that has led to a whole series of different signs, and celebrating the Bills, and doing it in a way that's not infringing on their copyright or their trademark, but just in a fun way to show everybody's support of our favorite football team."
Of the many signs and concepts created by Allen and his design team includes the yard signs that promote Josh Allen and Stefon Diggs, as if they were a pairing running for President and Vice President.
With the popularity of his product continuing to take off, Allen says it's humbling when he travels across the region and sees people sporting his brand in love and support of their favorite football team.
"It's obviously a treat," he said. "I was driving my kids out to a hockey game in Rochester not too long ago, and, of course, they love to spot them in different places. So here we were, over an hour from our house, and we just see these signs that we made. My kids love it, and obviously it's a thrill for us to know that we're involved in the culture of this whole thing. It's such a fun thing to be a part of, and I'm obviously proud of our shop for the work we're doing."
As people have reached out to Rory Allen wanting to buy the cutout of Josh Allen that's at "Hurdle" Avenue, he reminds everyone that unless he gets the permission of the Bills quarterback to sell the image, he cannot sell the image of Josh jumping. However, there are other items that are available at ZoomBuffalo.com that are of great popularity at the moment.
"We are able to sell his 'MVP' sign, which is basically MVP and the V doubles as a 17. We think that's a clever way to celebrate, what we already think should be, the MVP of the NFL this year," Allen said.
As for how long the Josh Allen "Hurdle" Avenue sign will remain in place at the corner of Hertel and Wellington, Rory Allen points out it can be removed at any time, so long as people want it there and it's not stolen. But as long as it stays up and remains in place, he's happy to have it there.
"I urge people to just keep having fun, and go get a picture while it's still there," Allen said. "If you notice on the back of the sign, we said that whoever steals this sign, if they do, I hope that their kids end up being Patriots fan. Just trying to have fun with the whole thing while it's still there, and [hope] nobody takes it. I urge you to just get over the Hertel, and maybe support some of the Hertel businesses over there."