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Historic Moondance Diner Closes AGAIN, Wanna Buy It?
By
Garth Johnston
Published Jul 11, 2012
Modified Jul 11, 2012
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By
Garth Johnston
Published Jul 11, 2012
Modified Jul 11, 2012
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Guess we won't be having one more moondance out west, after all. After packing up and moving from Manhattan to LaBarge, Wyoming, in 2007, and reopening there in 2008, the late, great, Moondance diner has closed again. But hey! The old girl can be yours now for the low, low price of $300,000. Just gotta go get it from Wyoming.
Cheryl Pierce, who with her husband bought the train-style diner for $7,500 and then spent a fortune moving it and fixing it up, was not happy about the closing. But the cost of maintaining the 36'x15' restaurant had simply become untenable. Between snow causing the roof to collapse in, medical problems in their family, and the vagaries of the tourist trade, the couple just couldn't take it anymore. In an e-mail, she writes:
After my husband Vince and father Kent moved the Moondance Diner from New York in 2007 to our hometown in LaBarge, Wyoming, we have been on an incredible journey. With the help of fellow family members, dedicated patrons, friends, tourists, media and old fashioned true grit, I have rennovated and established a beautiful Diner and successful business. We have invested ourselves to the max.... financially, physically and emotionally and I believe at this point in my life it is time to give it the best opportunity to succeed beyond my abilities. This decision is one I did not imagine having to make so soon; it is so difficult.
If she manages to sell the diner for $300k, she says she "wouldn't be making a penny. I’ve invested so much emotionally. It feels like giving up a child or a relative."
Pierce thinks the diner, which appeared in everything from Spider-Man to Friends, is probably done in Wyoming. But she hopes it can get another dance elsewhere. "It’s not about me, it’s about the Moondance. I have to pass it on. I don’t feel like it’s mine. I’ve always felt like I was just a caretaker."
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Garth Johnston
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