Bill Secunda’s sculpture “Cowboy” greets drivers along Route 8 as they enter the city of Butler. Secunda said the sculpture, which is on loan to the Butler Shade Tree Commission, is a tribute to local law enforcement. “At one time I called it ‘The First Responder,’” Secunda said. “He’s headed to town for something — we don’t know.” Austin Uram/Butler Eagle
Everlasting Curb Appeal will install stones as protection around the “Cowboy” statue by the General Butler Bridge as part of an agreement approved by Butler City Council on Thursday, April 25, for the price of placing a sign at the site for a year.
Councilman Dan Herr said the company is donating the material and labor for the project. He said the City Shade Tree Commission came up with the proposal, and the company providing the work has done some other landscaping work for the city in the past.
“It’s the same kind of rock seen around the shrubbery down there,” Herr said.
The cowboy was added on Tuesday, Nov. 7, to a patch of land that also contains two displays of the work of another local artist, Tom Panei. Donna Smith, president of the Butler Shade Tree Commission, said the sculpture was previously displayed at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids, Mich., and in other locations.
Butler Mayor Bob Dandoy pointed out that the statue is on loan to the city from the artist, Bill Secunda. Dandoy said there is no set time for how long the statue will be on public display, but Herr said Secunda indicated the disappearance of “Cowboy” would not mean that space would be empty.
“He has made it apparent that if that were to get sold, he would replace it with something else,” Herr said. “We’ve also been told that is one of two sculptures of that nature … But he did make the gesture that he would replace it with something similar.”
Dandoy said the sign Everlasting Curb Appeal will place near the statue is the size of a campaign yard sign.
Bill Secunda’s sculpture “Cowboy” greets drivers along Route 8 as they enter the city of Butler. Secunda said the sculpture, which is on loan to the Butler Shade Tree Commission, is a tribute to local law enforcement. “At one time I called it ‘The First Responder,’” Secunda said. “He’s headed to town for something — we don’t know.” Austin Uram/Butler Eagle
