Vernon Texas Unveils Roy Orbison Sunglasses Sculpture To Pay Homage To Hometown Hero

 From KAUZ Wichita Falls

The City of Vernon is always letting people know they are the birthplace of Roy Orbison, but they are paying more homage to him with a new sculpture.

The city used funds from its hotel occupancy tax to allow this new piece of art to be seen by everyone.

“I tried to get this done a while ago, but had no success,” City of Vernon Tourism and Main St Director, Amanda Lehman said.

" We are proud to know Roy was born and raised here in Vernon, even though he moved to Wink TX,” Lehman said.

Murals and various other sights around Vernon can be seen of Orbison and his iconic sunglasses. This look is what inspired the tourism board, to begin with.

“ I don’t know if this story is true but I’ve heard that Roy Orbison went to a show and he forgot his glasses, so he put on his sunglasses so he could see and it became a thing,” Amanda Lehman said.

The reception of life-size sculpture has been well received by those in the community and visitors.

The City of Vernon encourages all to stop and take pictures with the new art while also enjoying the beautiful mural of Roy Orbison behind it.

The tourism board thanks Decotron out of Dallas for accomplishing the task and giving the city something unique.

“When we heard about Vernon wanting us to do this project for Roy Orbison, it was a instant yes” Owner of Decotron, Shane Kiel said.

“First off, I am obsessed with Roy Orbison. My lead engineer, Devon McCauley’s dad is friends with Roy’s son. So we both knew we had to be on this project” Kiel said.

The sculpture took about 2-3 weeks to complete and stretches 10x10 feet square and 36 inches high.

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