LABARGE - Come early Monday morning, some lucky soul is going to make a small, if unheralded, bit of Wyoming history in this little Lincoln County town.

The momentous event will happen when he or she is served the first Blue Moon breakfast platter, perhaps with a side of Orion's biscuits 'n gravy, tater moonbits and a steaming mug of Rocket Fuel Coffee.

If you haven't guessed yet, eager eaters, Wyoming's version of the historic Moondance Diner is finally opening.

With little fanfare, the newly renovated Moondance Diner will open its doors at 5:30 sharp Monday morning after a two-year odyssey that captured the hearts, stomachs and interest of diner lovers from LaBarge to New York to London.

New York's former landmark diner will be just the second restaurant in tiny LaBarge in southwest Wyoming and is expected to attract customers not only from the local oil and natural gas work force, but from tourists traveling between Interstate 80 and Jackson Hole.

Nearly everybody, it seems, is chomping at the bit to grab a bite at the Moondance.

The Hafners - a couple from Rock Springs nearly 100 miles away in neighboring Sweetwater County - pulled into the parking lot Friday in hopes the diner might have opened already.

Allen, a soda ash worker, and wife Rosa said they had been following the saga of the Moondance and were really looking forward to the diner's opening. They saw some cars and pulled over.

"We'll be back Tuesday morning when I get off the graveyard shift," Allen Hafner promised.

New owner Cheryl Pierce said she and her small staff are excited, eager and ready to get to work.

"It's been just awesome … a long, true labor of love," she said during an interview at and tour of the Moondance on Friday.

"I think in some strange way the Moondance was meant to end up right on this spot," Pierce said, sitting at one of the booths and gazing through the diner's huge windows at the blue sky and the Red bluffs overlooking the Green River to the east.

"It's a great feeling of satisfaction … everybody here and so many others have played such a significant role and worked so hard to make this happen and we're so excited," she said.

Pierce said the purchase, move and renovation of the famed eatery has been has been a family affair, and the running of the Moondance won't be any different.

Her sister, Tanya Elliot, signed on as assistant manager and mother-in-law Ilene Profit will work behind the counter for a while to help get things up and running.

"We hope people will appreciate our attempt to provide homey, comfort foods that aren't regularly found on menus around here," Elliot said. "It's been a little nerve-wracking, but it's been so much fun."

Dream come true

Previously located on fashionable Sixth Avenue in New York City's SoHo District in lower Manhattan, the Moondance Diner stood for nearly 80 years near the entrance to the Holland Tunnel.

One of the last free-standing diners in Manhattan, the Moondance served up cheeseburgers, fries, milkshakes and malts for working-class New Yorkers, actors and artists for decades.

The historic diner became a victim of the times, however, and was scheduled for demolition in 2007 to make room for luxury condominiums when Cheryl and her husband, Vince, purchased the eatery.

The Pierces trucked the diner back to LaBarge, then spent more than a year renovating and refurbishing the structure, using original architectural drawings as a guide.

The Moondance's famed revolving, crescent-shaped sign will be one of the first things motorists see when they enter LaBarge from the south.

When diners enter the new Moondance, they'll be greeted with the eatery's familiar blue-white-and-yellow motif, including the famed blue barrel roof; a sleek, neon jukebox and a genuine, antique soda fountain. Some of the original, graffiti-covered panels adorn several walls, including the bathrooms.

The delightful, moon-shaped menu was designed by Elliot and hand-drawn by Pierce.

Elliptical entrees include intergalactic cheeseburgers from the Galaxy Grill, moonwiches and moonbaskets with orbital sides, and satellite sodas and Andromeda malts from the Along the Milky Way soda fountain.

Pierce said her Moondance adventure continues to garner attention and interest from people all over the country and the world. The family has received hundreds of emails, phone calls, letters and comments since the summer of 2007.

"For example, there's one lady from Howard Beach, New York, that's in her 90s and she recently sent the first dollar bill for the new Moondance, which is now hanging from the wall, and she's sent us Christmas ornaments and so many letters of encouragement," Pierce said.

"It's been just fabulous the amount of people that's been interested in this and that have helped us with this … and the people of New York have been some of our biggest fans in all of this," she said.

"Being in the spotlight has really added the pressure to get the diner open, but I don't think people realize all it takes to get a commercial business up and running. But we've worked hard, taken it one step at a time and now we're opening. It's just been a dream come true."

Contact southwest Wyoming bureau reporter Jeff Gearino at (307) 875-5359 or gearino@tribcsp.com