Betty, the Vista Washer Woman, never catches a break!  By day, she rub-a-dub-dubs, moving her body with the rhythms of washing, washing, washing atop the Cucina di Paolo! sign on Vista Street in Boise, Idaho!

Created by Andy Teague in the 1950s, Betty originally drew attention to the Maytag Laundry, whose sign she topped. After the laundry closed, Betty was rebuilt (after a hiatus of 15 years) by Bruce Whittig, at the request of the building’s new owners, Gregory Kaslo and Kay Hardy.  The iconic plywood, foam, and chicken-wire scrub lady stands five feet tall if placed on the ground and has become a beloved fixture on the busy street where passers-by are reminded that woman’s work is never done!  She gets new clothes periodically, thanks to the Boise State University theater department. And she now draws people in to the restaurant Cucina di Paolo! owned by Paul and Mary Jean Wegner.

Alas, poor Betty works into the darkness of night now that Daylight Savings Time is in effect.

Which just means, I guess, that the ever-scrubbing Betty, the Vista Washer Woman, rarely sees the light at the end of the tunnel!

Source note:  Betty, the Vista Washer Woman, is listed in the new book 150 Boise Icons celebrating Boise’s Sesquicentennial Celebration. (Click here for more information and how to order the book.)

Boise 150 Sesquicentennial — www.boise150.org

Cucina di Paolo! 1504 Vista Avenue, Boise, ID, 208.345.7150; www.cucinadipaolo.com

For more posts on the Inland Northwest, click the Page at the top of this blog labeled Inland Northwest.

For more entries to the Weekly Photo Challenge: Let There Be Light!, click here.