ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — A new billboard is grabbing attention with this message: Go home. We're full. Pete Melfi is a St. Augustine native and paid for the billboard. He is even pictured on it.
"I really just wanted to have a little bit of fun with a local saying here in St. Augustine," he said.
Melfi is dressed as a man and a woman on his billboard on State Road 16 in St. Augustine.
"It's been unbelievably great," he said about the response he's received.
The billboard is an advertisement for his app, The 904 Now. It looks a lot like the DJ and Lindsey Team real estate company's billboards all over the First Coast.
"I don't have a wife so I had to play my own wife," Melfi laughed. "I gotta tell you I don't make a good lookin' woman."
Melfi won't flat out say he is mocking DJ and Lindsey billboards, some of which say: Move to 904.com.
Melfi's billboard actually gives directions, maybe to head home, 17 hours north on I-95.
"I thought those were good enough directions," Melfi said.
St. Johns is one of the fastest-growing counties in the state.
"For people who grew up here like me, this a huge change," Melfi noted. "We see huge changes in things like traffic and quality of life."
As for the JD and Lindsey team, "They must have thought it was an interpretation of them. I don't know why they would have thought that" Melfi said. "They did reach out to me the next day (the billboard went up). They were very cool. They thought it was hilarious."
The DJ and Lindsay Team sent First Coast News a statement saying, "If using our likeness brought attention to another small business, especially during a pandemic, our team was happy."
Melfi said his app saw a thousand new subscribers after the billboard was up for about two weeks.
"At the end of the day," Melfi said, "I wanted people to see it, see the slogan, get a couple inside jokes, have a good laugh and say, 'Oh wow! Somebody finally said it!'"