Vegas Vickie at Circa Las Vegas restored by YESCO. (Photo Courtesy of Circa Las Vegas.)
YESCO, the one hundred-year-old Salt Lake City-headquartered company known for creating, repairing and maintaining internationally recognizable signs, had the honor of restoring the iconic Vegas Vickie sign, which serves as the centerpiece of the brand-new Circa Resort & Casino in downtown Las Vegas.
The twenty-five-foot neon kicking cowgirl made her grand return on October 28 in Circa’s lobby at her namesake bar, debuting a sparkling fresh makeover carried out by YESCO’s sign fabricating experts at their Las Vegas shop. The brightly colored sign went through an extensive restoration including new paint, new neon glass tubing and replacement of the motor that allows her to kick one leg up and down.
Prior to restoration, the original sign was extremely faded. Because the client was adamant the sign appear as close as possible to the original version, YESCO initially created a painted, scale model so the client could approve the colors prior to restoration.
Vegas Vickie was designed by famous sign designer Charles Barnard and debuted in 1980 as a component of Fremont Street’s Glitter Gulch casino. In 1994, the sign made major headlines when she “married” her neon counterpart, Vegas Vic—Fremont Street’s famous “Howdy Pardner” cowboy.
The grand opening of Circa Resort & Casino on October 27, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images for Circa Resort & Casino.)
With the goal of uniting old and new Vegas in never-before-seen ways at Circa Resort & Casino Owner Derek Stevens acquired the sign in 2016 with the intent to give Vickie a new home at the resort.
“We cannot be more excited about being a part of the restoration of Vegas Vickie and watching her kick her leg once again,” said Jeff Young, senior vice president and chief marketing officer, YESCO. “It’s gratifying to know our work will be viewed by visitors for years to come.”
In addition to restoring Vegas Vickie, YESCO fabricated the new resort’s monumental exterior “Circa” signage and two large, curved “clamshell” canopies at the resort’s entrances.