Mystery Solved? Ad Firm Says 'Anonymous' Business Owners Behind Bush Billboard

Shown here is a picture of a billboard in Wyoming, Minn. (Courtesy of Bob Collins, Minnesota Public Radio)

Mystery solved?

A Minneapolis-based advertising firm has cleared the air, sort of, surrounding a mysterious billboard that went up in Minnesota featuring a picture of former President George W. Bush with the words "Miss Me Yet?"

Bev Master, office manager with Schubert & Hoey Outdoor Advertising, said the billboard -- which the firm owns -- was rented out by a "group of small business owners and individuals who just felt like Washington was against them."

"They thought it was a funny way to get out their message," she added.

However, Master told FoxNews.com the ad buyers wish to "remain anonymous."

The billboard, which Master said has been up since December, stirred an online frenzy in recent days as it started to attract more attention.

With nobody initially claiming ownership, local newspapers and blogs wondered aloud whether pictures of the billboard were real, who put it there and whether the message was meant as a slap at President Obama's performance to date or a dig at Bush's unpopularity.

Minnesota Public Radio answered the first question on Monday. Reporter Bob Collins wrote that he saw the billboard on I-35 in Wyoming, Minn., last week, and posted a giant picture of it online.

"It's real," he wrote. Wyoming is about 40 miles north of the Twin Cities.

And all indications are the billboard was a slap at Obama.

"My personal feeling is it's probably anti-Obama," Mark Drake, a spokesman for the Minnesota Republican Party, told FoxNews.com. Drake said he first caught word of the mystery-board a couple weeks ago and has "no idea" who designed and paid for it.

Wyoming Mayor Sheldon Anderson said he's gotten lots of "positive" responses about the sign from people in the community, which he said generally leans "right" on political issues.

"I've had people willing to make donations to keep the billboard up longer," Anderson told Fox News. "They're free to send any message they want, and I think it's very creative."

In another sign that the billboard was not intended as an Obama compliment, a company that bills itself as "The Mother of all Anti-Obama Superstores" has started selling bumper stickers featuring the "Miss Me Yet?" caption and the same photo of Bush -- only one showing him facing in a different direction.

A spokesman for the company, Megatudes, told FoxNews.com that the company had nothing to do with the billboard.