T-Rex on Highway 40 in Vernal has endured the long cold winter along with everyone else and can’t wait for spring to resume his makeover in progress. Community members and local business owners stepped up last spring to see T-Rex restored to his former glory rather than continue to crumble beyond repair. A community survey determined that the new look for T-Rex will more closely resemble the original retro paint job rather than the solid green and white belly from recent years. T-Rex was built by George and Helen Millecam and was added as a companion to other dinosaur statues they had at their Dine-A-Ville Motel around 1969. While the other statues were moved, T-Rex stayed in that part of town and weathered many years as Vernal’s mascot famous for his fashionable wardrobe and fantastic prop collection. The artists on the restoration project report that once the weather cooperates, the T-Rex restoration project will resume. The artist expects it will be April or May before that is possible.
