Our History:
Joey Lemmons graduated from Clemson University in May 1981 with a degree in Agriculture Economics. After college he started a produce sales company called Fruitland Sales Inc and worked as the produce broker selling truckloads of peaches grown by his father’s peach operation called Lemmons Farms to grocery stores across the United States. In 1982, Joey rented an old abandoned gas station on I-85 for his produce sales office and built his first three billboard signs next to his sales office.
Lemmons Farms had a full peach crop most seasons but in 1982, 1983 and 1984, the peach crops was severely damaged by cold weather during the springtime and left only a few truck loads of peaches each year to sell to grocery stores. Joey and his father Jodean Lemmons, Sr. knew that they needed to diversify their operations to make it through years of peach crop kill outs, also known as lean years. Since both Lemmons Farms Inc and Fruitland Sales Inc each had their own billboard signs on I-85 and both had some experience in the sign industry, they decided to begin building additional outdoor advertising signs together. The newly formed billboard company which was started and funded equally was named Daisy Outdoor Advertising, Inc. Daisy Outdoor was a 50/50 split ownership between Joey and his father Jodean Sr. Joey had the tasks of finding sign locations that met the outdoor advertising codes, leasing these sites from landowners, and obtaining permits from the county and state in order to legally erect each sign site. Jodean Lemmons Sr. was tasked with building the sign structures for Daisy Outdoor Advertising and built most of the sign structures in the first 15 years of forming Daisy Outdoor Advertising. In later years, Jodean Sr. did approximately 10 percent of the sales until his death in 2013. Over the years, Joey permitted approximately 300 billboard sites for Daisy Outdoor Advertising and continued to manage the company until May 2017.
In addition to finding billboard locations, Joey was also in charge of sales and for many years conducted almost 100 percent of all sales for Daisy Outdoor Advertising. For over 30 years, Joey sold more than half the advertising. David Perry, a loyal friend, began selling for Daisy Outdoor approximately 5 years after Daisy Outdoor Advertising was formed and continues to work in sales for Fruitland Outdoor Advertising and D&J Outdoor Advertising today.
Unfortunately in 2016, Joey’s siblings sued him in order to force him out and take full control of Daisy Outdoor Advertising, Inc. They asked the court to force Joey to sell his 50 percent of Daisy Outdoor Advertising Inc. to the trust of Jodean Lemmons Sr. which the siblings had control of. Joey attempted to get the family to divide the sign locations in order to keep peace between the family. In 2016, the judge sided with Joey and ordered the company assets would be divided equally between the two parties who had equal controlled interest. In May 2017, the assets of Daisy Outdoor Advertising were divided and Joey formed a new company called Fruitland Outdoor Advertising, Inc. David Perry decided to work for Fruitland Outdoor Advertising along with three of the four sign installers who also chose to work for Joey at Fruitland Outdoor Advertising.
In 2018, Trey Lemmons, Joey's son, joined the sales staff of Fruitland Outdoor Advertising followed by his brother Leland Lemmons who joined the sales staff in 2020. In January of 2022 Fruitland welcomed Cole Israel, Joey's son-in-law to the Fruitland Outdoor team. Fruitland Outdoor Advertising is continuing to add new sign locations in the upstate of South Carolina. In February of 2021, Fruitland Outdoor installed its first digital billboard structure and is currently building more in the upstate of South Carolina to service clients who want to utilize digital outdoor advertising.
Joey Lemmons and his family want to thank our advertisers for their support and we look forward to serving our community now and for years to come. Trey, Leland & Cole will be a second generation who want to continue in the outdoor advertising business. We look forward to making new friends as we service your outdoor advertising needs!