Monday, June 06, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

WENDOVER WILL: Northern Nevada cowboy gets new life

City restores 6-story-tall mechanical fixture, which will be centerpiece of downtown revitalization effort

Wendover Will, a cousin to Fremont Street's Vegas Vic, has been a fixture of the Northern Nevada city of West Wendover for more than 50 years. He was recently restored and moved from the city's edge to the middle of town. Photo by Jeff Scheid. A crew helps put the final touches on Wendover Will's display in preparation for a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday. Photo by Jeff Scheid.

Cruising through the little Northern Nevada town of West Wendover without a smile from Wendover Will would be like passing through Arizona without seeing a cactus.

There clearly would be something wrong.

"To us, he is a community icon," said West Wendover's city manager, Chris Melville.

That's why the city of about 5,000 people just this side of the Utah border has spent somewhere near $200,000 fixing up old Will, a 6-story-tall, cigarette-smoking, pistol-packing neon cowboy who's greeted visitors and townsfolk there for more than 50 years.

"We want him to look as he did in 1952, when he was first erected," said Melville, a lifelong resident. West Wendover, which sits along Interstate 80, is about eight hours north of Las Vegas.

Will, a cousin to Fremont Street's famous Vegas Vic, originally was an advertising gimmick for what was then the town's only hotel-casino, the State Line.

The State Line replaced a tiny service station and motel that had been in business since 1926, five years before legalized gambling came to Nevada. Back then, founder William "Bill" Smith had stuck a light atop a pole to lure travelers into his oasis.

In 1952, Smith replaced the light and pole with the giant cowboy, who came to be known as Wendover Will.

The cowboy, holder of a spot in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest mechanical cowboy anywhere, waved an arm, winked and flicked his cigarette every now and then.

He sat right on the state line, greeting visitors with the message "This is the place" on the Utah side and "where the west begins" on the Nevada side.

Over the years, Will was remodeled from time to time, including painting his dark hair blond, Melville said. His shirt and jeans changed colors, too.

Then the State Line was sold in 2002, and its name changed to the Wendover Nugget, now one of five hotel-casinos in the rapidly growing town. The new owners wanted to get rid of old Will.

City leaders approached the Nugget's owners and said they'd like to preserve Will, Melville said. So the casino simply gave Will to the city last August.

He sat in storage through the winter, Melville said, in preparation for restoration by the Young Electric Sign Co., the company that built him.

The city, which was officially incorporated in 1991, decided to move Will to the center of town, in the median along Wendover Boulevard, where he'll be a centerpiece of a downtown revitalization effort.

He was repainted back to his original colors, the neon was all fixed up, the cigarette's flick was restored, and his once-waving arm was welded into place to save maintenance costs.

In all, Melville said, it cost about $200,000 to fix Will, build a new pedestal for him, and make improvements along the boulevard where he now sits. The city got a grant from the state's tourism commission of about $35,000 and has received about $20,000 in private donations to help pay for it.

Will was put in place last month. Final preparation for his grand reintroduction and ribbon-cutting ceremony are being made right now.

The ceremony is set for 10 a.m. Mountain Daylight Time on Thursday.