CEDAR CITY — The iconic cow that adorned the roof of Cedar City’s Top Spot Drive Inn for decades was taken down for the last time on Wednesday afternoon.

As longtime restaurant owners Craig and Ann Barton and several of their family members watched, the black-and-white fiberglass bovine was lowered from the roof via a rope.

Almost immediately, the Bartons’ granddaughter Mattie and her younger brother Mason took turns climbing onto the cow’s back and posing for photos.

Although it was far from the first time the unnamed cow had been removed from the building’s roof, it will be the last, Ann Barton said as she promised that the treasured relic would be given a good home.

“That cow has been stolen off the roof dozens of times,” Ann Barton said, noting that pranksters have left the cow in various places, including at the livestock auction and the cemetery in Cedar City, as well as being swapped out for the horse that once adorned the roof of Dick’s Cafe on St. George Boulevard.

“One time, someone called and said, ‘We’re either going to steal the cow or you’re going to take it down for us, because we’re going to have it at our class reunion,” she added. “We had somebody ask us if they could have it for their wedding.”

One time, Craig Barton noted, would-be rustlers dropped the cow and broke off its tail and one of its hind legs.

“We got the leg back and fixed it, but the tail that’s on it now is just a dish towel that I dipped in fiberglass,” he said with a chuckle.

Craig Barton said Top Spot was founded in 1963 by LaNoir Jones, who operated it for a few years before selling it to Clark and Lil Barton (Craig’s parents). After working for Clark and Lil for several years, Craig and Ann Barton took over the business in 1981 and ended up running it for 34 more years until they retired in 2015.

Craig and Ann said they met each other while working at Top Spot together, as did their son Colby and his wife Kelli, just to name a couple of the numerous matchups made there. 

Even more connections were made as another generation of kids became old enough to make milkshakes and take french fry orders.

“We call them Top Spot babies,” Ann said. “People met here, got married, had kids who then came to work for us.”

In addition to Craig, Ann, Colby and Kelli Barton, other family members on hand to witness the dismantling of the cow on Wednesday were Matt Barton and his wife Ashley (Mattie and Mason’s parents) and Steve Reber, who is Craig’s brother-in-law.

Although the Bartons’ four other children – Brett, Jessie, Ryan and Lonnie – live out of the area and weren’t able to make it to Wednesday’s de-cow-missioning, they also have strong ties to the business, having worked there for years.

Ann Barton noted that even though the building is now located in the middle of town, Top Spot was so named because it was the last business folks would encounter as they reached the “top” of Main Street heading south at 650 South.

“A lot of people would come up from Vegas and they’d tell their friends, ‘Meet us at the cow,’” Craig Barton said. “It was a landmark.”

Ann Barton said Top Spot featured a number of signature items on its menu, including the Ryeburger and the Dinoburger. Other favorites included various sandwiches, footlong hotdogs, tacos, burritos, chili, fish and chips, milkshakes and many more.

Top Spot’s own in-house fry sauce and tartar sauce were also a hit with customers, Ann Barton added.

The eatery was a longtime popular hangout for teenage students at nearby Cedar High School, many of whom liked to go there for lunch or after school to play the pinball and arcade machines. Top Spot also had gas pumps, making it a convenient place to fill up one’s car as well as one’s stomach.

Top Spot Drive Inn continued to operate for a few more years after being purchased by current owner Jeff Obering. The restaurant’s final day of operation ended up being July 22, 2023, when a fume hood fire caused extensive smoke damage to the interior of the building.

Obering, who arranged for the cow’s ceremonial removal on Wednesday as a tribute and a thank-you to the Bartons, said the building will soon be home to a new sports bar called DC Pub and Grill.

Obering said the new business’s owners have set a target opening date of mid-September. Workers are currently in the process of installing several large flat-screen TVs along the walls of the dining area.

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