An original sculpture by Renoite Douglas Van Howd graces the entrance to the newly opened Reno Cabela’s. Photo by Charlie JohnstonBraving a brisk Nevada winter day, hundreds of onlookers stood outside the Verdi Cabela’s – a short drive west of downtown Reno off I-80 – to see the work of native Renoite Douglas Van Howd revealed. Behind the cloth was Van Howd’s latest lifelike sculpture, three bighorn sheep (the Nevada state animal) traversing an imaginary mountainside. Since 1988, Van Howd has been commissioned around the world to design wildlife- and Western-themed sculptures in museums, resorts, city sites, and private estates.
“I’m extremely honored to be asked to do the monument for the Reno store,” said Van Howd, whose work can be seen at Reno/Tahoe International Airport, Reno’s Mackay Stadium, and John Ascuaga’s Nugget in Sparks, to name a few. He also told the crowd that he wasn’t going to let some well laid-out plans get in the way of his ultimate vision. “I was commissioned to do the sculpture 24 feet high, but I decided to do it in 30. Actually, it turned out to be 30 feet, six inches.”
Produced in seven months, Van Howd said the sculpture is well adapted to stand up to the sometimes-brutal Nevada weather – or whatever else stands in its way. “When everything is gone, this monument will still be here,” he said, laughing.
Also on hand were Mary and Dick Cabela, co-founder of the Nebraska-based outdoor empire. “I’d like to welcome a business that began tying flies in a garage and grew to this,” said Reno City Councilman Dave Aiazzi. “How could you not support that?” Shoppers clearly are, considering Cabela’s opened eight new U.S. stores in 2007, including the property near Boomtown Hotel & Casino.
The statue unveiling was part of a 10-day-long grand opening celebration for the store, even though it soft-opened in November. The Cabela’s Web site describes the store as follows: “The 125,000-square-foot retail showroom is an educational and entertainment attraction, featuring a décor of museum-quality animal displays, huge aquariums, and trophy animals interacting in realistic re-creations of their natural habitats.” There’s a gun room, fudge shop, deli, laser-shooting room, archery range, and a large selection of men’s, women’s, and children’s clothing.
On this day the store was crawling with customers, a testament to the brand’s appeal. Cabela’s, it seems, was correct when it chose Reno as a site for one of its many outdoor megastores.
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