Drivers Keep Taking Out Cheyenne’s Bronze Sculptures

Cheyenne art dealer Harvey Deselms had to send an awkward but urgent text to Mayor Patrick Collins on Sunday.

“I told him we’re going to need the city to come rescue a bunny,” he said.

“Lazy Days,” a bronze sculpture of a relaxing rabbit by Joshua Tobey, was involved in a multiple vehicle crash on the corner of 19th Street and Pioneer Avenue. 

The bunny was battered, and the stone pedestal it was lying on had been knocked over and partially destroyed.

Deselms rushed to the scene, but there wasn’t much he could do. 

This is the third time a Cheyenne bronze sculpture had been hit by a vehicle, but he’s not deterred from reaching the long-sought goal of erecting 100 bronze sculptures downtown.

“Nobody had hit a bronze before we put the bronzes up,” he said. “I can’t calculate the odds in my head, but I think we’re doing pretty well with only three hits out of 82 pieces.”

Battered Bronze Bunny

The incident occurred around 10:30 a.m. Sunday. Deselms said the incident involved two vehicles, a Ford Explorer and a Jeep, that smacked into each other and careened toward the southeast corner of the intersection where “Lazy Days” had been installed.

“One vehicle hit the pedestal and knocked the bunny off,” he said. “It flipped and landed on its feet, so to speak, but not after scraping on the ground. The pedestal was turned over and messed up badly.”

The pedestal had been built by Harold F. Johnson Masonry in Cheyenne. It consisted of several blocks of sandstone, some of which were shattered or dislodged from the spots where they had been mortared into place.

Despite the damage, Deselms said both the bronze and the pedestal survived mostly intact. The vehicles didn’t fare as well.

“I’m not an auto mechanic or a body guy, but they looked to be totaled,” he said. “Wheels bent and everything.”

Deselms said the drivers of the vehicles appeared uninjured, but they were taken to a local hospital for evaluation. Based on what he observed at the scene, he believes excessive speed might have been a factor in the incident.

“If there was that much damage to the vehicles and the pedestal was completely knocked off, my guess is that they were going faster than the posted speed limit,” he said. “

Bureaucratic Bronze Buffer

“Lazy Days” was one of the 100 bronzes being erected in Cheyenne as part of the Capitol Avenue Bronze Project. It’s an effort Deselms, artists, and Cheyenne residents have been championing for almost two decades.

As of January 2026, 82 bronze sculptures have been installed. Deselms said another 11 pieces, and possibly more, will be installed before the end of the year.

This is the third time one of the Cheyenne bronzes have been hit by a vehicle. One of those incidents occurred right outside of Deselms Fine Art in January 2025, when a truck knocked over a $95,000 sculpture and nearly missed another valued at $165,000.

Deselms said all the incidents have ended with the same result. The bronze sculptures were more or less fine, while the vehicles were much worse for wear.

“In those incidents, there was little damage to the pedestals or the bronzes, but the cars looked totaled,” he said. “They must have been clipping along at a very high rate of speed to generate that much force.”

All the bronzes are privately funded, but ownership transfers to the city of Cheyenne once they’re in place. That means the city’s insurance can cover damage caused by accidents or unidentified perpetrators, but driver-related incidents will be billed to the responsible driver’s insurance.

The City of Cheyenne had to cover the costs associated with an act of vandalism in October 2025. Someone tried to pry "Buffalo Nation,” a bronze sculpture by famous Wyoming artist Chris Navarro, off its pedestal at the corner of Pioneer Avenue and W. 19th Street.

“That was just some turd trying to steal it,” Deselms said. “Everyone hopped onboard to get it reinstalled and fixed up, but they haven’t found out who tried stealing it, to my knowledge.”

Deselms sees these incidents as a cautionary tale. If the threat of tickets wasn’t enough to deter drivers from speeding in Cheyenne, they risk their health, their vehicle, and higher premiums if they hit one of these roadside sculptures.  

“Whoever hits them gets a ticket, and their insurance is going to be very unhappy.”

Talk about adding insult to injury.

Accidents, Not “On Purposes”

The damage done to “Lazy Days” and its pedestal will be easy enough to fix, but it’ll take some time. Deselms said the sculpture had “a couple of cosmetic damages” to its face, foot, and butt.

“The bunny survived, but not without a few scars,” he said. “Somebody picked it up this morning, and it’ll be taken to Josh's studio. They’ll reweld and re-patina it while Harold F. Johnson Masonry repairs the pedestal. They’ll be out of commission for a while.”

Deselms isn’t fazed by the accidents or the acts of vandalism, which have been comparatively few and far between. The accomplishments of the Capitol Avenue Bronze Project far outweigh the occasional accident, and they’ve become permanent fixtures in downtown Cheyenne.

“I was involved in a traffic accident years ago, so I know accidents are not ‘on purposes,’” he said. “I think we’re doing pretty well with only three accidents out of 82 sculptures, and it’s amazing how much people love the bronzes. Accidents happen, but we’re going to keep putting up more bronzes.”

Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.