Cars of the Mother Road in Williams, Arizona, recently paid tribute to former mayor John C. Moore by fashioning a 13-foot-tall, cowboy-hat-wearing likeness of him.
The Williams Independent reported that Marshall Noriega wanted to spruce up his business with eye-catching elements before Route 66’s centennial next year.
He initially envisioned a tall cowboy, a saguaro cactus, red rocks, a road runner and Wile E. Coyote as part of the display. Then a brainstorm occurred:
As he was building the concrete over metal frame cowboy in his backyard, he had the idea to honor former Williams Mayor John W. Moore for his years of service to the City of Williams and its’ residents. The statue weighs almost 2000 pounds and is about 13 feet tall. Noriega recalls first meeting Moore over 20 years ago and being impressed with Moore’s dedication to promoting and improving Williams as a world class tourist destination.
Noriega had to rent a crane to lift the statue out of his backyard, over his house, and onto a trailer filled with mattresses and padding to cushion the statue for its 400 mile ride to Williams. Remarkably, the statue survived the potholes on Interstate 40 and made it to Williams relatively unscathed. […]
When asked his thoughts on the statue, Moore commented that he thought it was “pretty cool”. He added “I never imagined I’d see a statue of myself standing on Route 66”. Moore said that he intends to use the Route 66 Centennial to promote Williams to people around the world.
A bunch of photos of the display can be seen in the Independent’s report.
Here’s a video of the statue being installed:
In case you want to check out the display for yourself, it’s at 341 W. Route 66 in Williams.
Moore isn’t the first figure to have a statue of himself made while still living.
Route 66 author and historian Jim Hinckley had his image made in Kingman, Arizonna. And Louie Keen, the self-anointed Mayor of Uranus, commissioned one of himself at his complex in St. Robert, Missouri.
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