Friday, May 16, 2008

PARADE OF HOME$....Moab Style


I’m sure every community has different criteria choosing which houses to showcase when they plan their annual “Parade of Homes”. Leave it to Moab to ignore tradition and put a new twist on the event. Tom Lacy took his new "used" home, the former Cisco Hotel, directly to the people of Moab, from 100 West, right up 100 North, across Main Street, and another four blocks to its final resting place.



Moabites and tourists lined the street, chatting and snapping photos, creating an ever-so-slow procession as the huge flatbed truck ceremoniously hauled the stucco hulk. City workers managed the crowd and the power company dealt with the power lines---one block at a time, unhooking and rehooking. As the 90 ton hulk creeped onward, the crowd was asked to move this way and that or cross to the other side of the street. It was all very casual, sooo Moab.


A few grey-haired old women waved a finger at a particular window, commenting “That was my room”. I’m not sure if they meant here in Moab or when the Hotel was first constructed 100 years ago in Cisco, Utah, now barely an imaginary figment of a town along the River Road east of Moab.
The Cisco Hotel continued operating as a Hotel after its move to Moab some 50 years ago, but progress is dictating replacement by the spanking new Cisco Condominiums. So, Tom Lacy decided to buy and preserve a piece of history, for himself and his family. After the “parade” he hosted a morning BBQ dinner for everyone interested, and then begins the process of turning the Cisco Hotel into his family’s home.


This was the first Parade of Homes I’ve ever been to, and I think it will be hard to top.


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Am I nuts...or didn't we drive through a ghost town in Montana named Cisco when I visited you eons ago? Isn't that the place that inspired you to name your dog at the time, Cisco?

Is Luke hallucinating, or was her head "screwed on straight" at the time? I will never forget how incredibly beautiful Montana's mountains and Yellowstone Park were...there's nothing else like them!