Wyoming
Wyoming's most famous neon cowboy is getting a makeover – WyoFile
One of Wyoming’s most famous cowboys, recently dubbed “Earl,” was plucked from his longtime, remote roadside home of Powder River and is undergoing a much-needed makeover 35 miles down the road in Casper.
The iconic Tumble Inn sign that had greeted passersby along Highway 26 since the early 1960s had grown worse for wear in recent decades, but it still outlived the establishment that once offered “Sizzlin Steaks.” Despite its deteriorating condition — wind-shattered neon glass, growing patches of rust and fading colors — the relic of Americana never lost its charm.
“Driving the road through Powder River from Colorado to Cody over many decades, Jonathan [Thorne] noticed that the sign was falling further and further into decay, and rescuing it became an obsession of sorts,” Thorne’s sister Sarah Mentock told WyoFile.
After years of sleuthing, Thorne finally located the owner and struck a deal that required him to buy the entire lot. The siblings then recruited the talents of neon-glass bender Connie Morgan and John Huff — a motorhead, metal craftsman and all-around tinkerer with a large shop in downtown Casper’s Yellowstone District.
In fact, both Morgan, who owns and operates GloW Neon Lights, and Huff had long shared an appreciation for the sign and worried it might waste away — or worse, suffer at the hands of vandals.
“These old signs, to me, they’re artwork,” Morgan said. “If you look at those old neon signs from the ‘50s and ‘60s, that’s not just a sign advertising a hotel or motel. It’s a piece of art.”
The restoration mission began with a good, eight-hour power washing. Huff had to remove decades of bird skeletons, bird poop and nesting material from Earl’s innards. With his hat removed, Earl was mounted on a large mechanical rotisserie so Huff and his crew could comfortably labor over the sign, carefully sanding multiple layers of paint, tracing lines and rewiring electrical connections.
“I’ve looked at this for days on end wondering, ‘What was this guy thinking when he came up with this idea and put it on this metal?’” Huff said, adding that the original artist remains a mystery. “I feel like I kind of know this guy. I don’t know who he was, but I got a pretty good idea of his style and the way he did things.
“It wasn’t precision like new digital artwork,” Huff added. “Some guy painted this by hand. He didn’t go render it on a computer. He visioned it and then he drew it on a big scale. That’s not how things are done these days.”
A few doors down, Morgan is recreating the neon lights — a task that requires careful forensics to determine the original colors. She was able to salvage some of the original glass that was still intact, while bending hundreds of feet of new neon tubing true to the original design.
“The fact that any of it is still intact is pretty amazing, so I didn’t want to reinvent the wheel making it all new,” Morgan said. “Whoever did the glass-bending on it was pretty phenomenal, so I want to keep it as an homage to the guy who made it originally.”
The restoration team plans to mount the Tumble Inn sign in front of the Yellowstone Garage Bar and Grill in downtown Casper, with an unveiling and celebration on Memorial Day weekend. Huff and his crew are designing an observation deck so people can take photos and enjoy the piece of Wyoming history.
“It’s not a sign,” Huff said. “This is art. This is nostalgia. We’re not doing a sign, we’re not trying to promote a business. But we’re preserving history and the old-school way of doing things.”
Visit this website to learn more about the Tumble Inn sign’s history and the restoration process.
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CASPER, Wyo. — High school athletics in Wyoming could see some drastic changes in the coming years following legislative changes to the state’s education budget, the Wyoming High School Activities Association recently announced in a statement.
According to the WHSAA, Wyoming school districts are facing a projected $3.9 million shortfall in activities funding, forcing officials to consider significant cuts to high school sports and extracurricular programs.
The WHSAA shared details regarding a new “silo” funding model implemented by the Legislature, stating that the recalibrated block grant model reduced funding for student activities and extra-duty responsibilities from $46.3 million to $42.4 million, an approximately 8.4% decrease statewide.
WHSAA Commissioner Trevor Wilson said the restructuring also restricts district access to an additional $76.2 million in previously flexible funding.
“A significant portion of the [April 28 WHSAA Board of Directors] meeting was dedicated to discussing the projected funding shortfall,” Wilson wrote.
The WHSAA is weighing several strategies to address rising costs with fewer resources. Proposed changes include eliminating regional tournaments and reducing the number of teams qualifying for state events from eight to four; limiting wrestling to two classes and restricting track and field state participants to the top 16 marks; making cuts to soccer, indoor track and field, Nordic and Alpine skiing, swimming and diving, spring golf and tennis; and reducing in-person speech and debate events by half and centrally locating All-State Music events to minimize travel. The board also recommended increasing gate admission or implementing student participation fees to offset costs.
While the WHSAA release states that no plans have been finalized and the various changes are currently just possibilities, Natrona County School District 1 Board of Trustees member Mary Schmidt criticized the WHSAA’s handling of the news at Monday’s board meeting.
“I take some issues with this, [including] the sheer fact that we as Board of Trustees members have not talked about that at all,” Schmidt said. “It is not our intent and it has not been brought to us to cut our athletics or activities budget for the upcoming school year. … I take issue with them picking sports and getting the community upset and ginning them up to be upset that this is all going to be cut when that hasn’t been discussed.”
Later in the meeting, Superintendent Angela Hensley clarified that Natrona County School District 1’s athletics and activities budget saw a reduction of roughly $550,000 in the coming year’s budget, but said the local school district does not plan to cut any sports.
“Thank you, Trustee Schmidt, for saying this, because I think people are wondering — we are not planning to cut athletics and activities for next year,” Hensley said. “We do have to take a look at our entire budget as we have talked about, as we learn more about these new rules that come in.”
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Republished with permission from Wyoming News Now, a TV news outlet covering the Cheyenne and Casper areas.
Cheyenne City Council has introduced a temporary moratorium, or pause, on new data center construction.
“The end goal is to actually have regulations in place, to have really heavy public involvement with this with data centers,” said Councilman Mark Moody.
The proposed ordinance is not a permanent ban on data centers and would not affect data centers currently under construction.
Councilman Moody says this is a bipartisan issue.
“I just want to make this clear, I’m not against data centers. We do need them from a national security perspective,” he said.
He said there needs to be more public input and regulations regarding data centers in Cheyenne.
The ordinance would require city staff to study data center impacts such as electricity usage, electricity tariffs, closed-loop cooling systems, groundwater impacts, agricultural impacts, and land value.
Cheyenne LEADS, the economic development corporation for Cheyenne and Laramie County, reported in November 2025 that there are 12 operational data centers in Wyoming, five under construction and plans for 43 data centers announced across the state.
“There needs to be more public input with this, and also to see how many we can sustain here in this community, cause there are talks of 43, and then another day 70. How many can we sustain here?” said Councilman Moody.
The proposed moratorium will now go to the Public Services Committee on Monday, May 18 at noon in the Municipal Building.
Sheridan will play in the North Regional Tournament at Gillette, while the South Regional Tournament will be played at Rock Springs.
North Regional Tournament at Gillette:
Checking record vs. highest team in the quadrant not involved in the tie, Thunder Basin gets the #1 Northeast seed over Campbell County, because the Lady Bolts went 3-1 vs. Sheridan, whereas the Lady Camels went 2-2.
Friday, May 15th:
(#1 NE) Thunder Basin vs. (#4 NW) Jackson – 11am
(#2 NW) Natrona County vs. (#3 NE) Sheridan – 11am
(#2 NE) Campbell County vs. (#3 NW) Kelly Walsh – 1pm
(#1 NW) Cody vs. (#4 NE) Worland – 1pm
Semi-Finals:
Thunder Basin/Jackson winner vs. Natrona County/Sheridan winner – 3pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Campbell County/Kelly Walsh winner vs. Cody/Worland winner – 5pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Consolation Round:
Thunder Basin/Jackson loser vs. Natrona County/Sheridan loser – 3pm LOSER OUT!
Campbell County/Kelly Walsh loser vs. Cody/Worland loser – 5pm LOSER OUT!
Saturday, May 16th:
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
2 10am winners vs. each other – 1pm 3rd Place
TBA vs. TBA – 1pm 1st Place
South Regional Tournament at Rock Springs:
Friday, May 15th:
(#1 SW) Laramie vs. (#4 SE) Torrington – 11am
(#2 SE) Cheyenne East vs. (#3 SW) Green River – 11am
(#2 SW) Rock Springs vs. (#3 SE) Wheatland – 1pm
(#1 SE) Cheyenne Central vs. (#4 SW) Cheyenne South – 1pm
Semi-Finals:
Laramie/Torrington winner vs. Cheyenne East/Green River winner – 3pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Rock Springs/Wheatland winner vs. Cheyenne Central/Cheyenne South winner – 5pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Consolation Round:
Laramie/Torrington loser vs. Cheyenne East/Green River loser – 3pm LOSER OUT!
Rock Springs/Wheatland loser vs. Cheyenne Central/Cheyenne South loser – 5pm LOSER OUT!
Saturday, May 16th:
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
2 10am winners vs. each other – 1pm 3rd Place
TBA vs. TBA – 1pm 1st Place
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