LaBARGE - It was Wyoming's feel-good story of the year.

Vince and Cheryl Pierce's purchase of the famed Moondance Diner and its subsequent move to southwest Wyoming captured the hearts of state residents, the attention of a nation clamoring for a little good news, and international headlines.

It also brought a much-needed restaurant to tiny LaBarge, which has a population of around 600.

Cheryl Pierce said she's still a little overwhelmed by all the fuss.

"It's funny - it seems like just yesterday we went and saw the diner for the first time, and that was just in July," she said earlier this month. "But it's been so positive … everything that's happened and has been written (has been) so positive.

"A bunch of us were talking about that the other day and how small towns don't get any spotlight unless there's something horrible going on," she said. "It was so great that what we were doing was a good thing and that we had so much support for it."

Previously located on Sixth Avenue in New York City's fashionable SoHo District, the Moondance Diner stood for nearly 77 years near the Holland Tunnel entrance in lower Manhattan.

The diner - one of the last free-standing diners in Manhattan - served up cheeseburgers, fries, milkshakes and malts to working-class New Yorkers for decades before it gained national prominence after being featured in the film "Spider-Man" and numerous TV episodes.

The Moondance became a victim of the times, however, and was scheduled for demolition to make room for condominiums.

The Pierces had been looking for a restaurant investment when they spotted the diner for sale on the Web site of the American Diner Museum in Providence, R.I. The couple decided to rescue the Moondance, purchasing the eatery for $7,500.

Vince, who drives service trucks for southwest Wyoming's oil and gas industry, and father-in-law Kent Profit drove back to New York to collect the diner. After a three-day bureaucratic snarl over city permits and a torrential rainstorm that briefly delayed the project, the pair loaded the diner onto a trailer and trucked the Moondance through nine states to its new home to LaBarge.

The preservation, relocation and weeklong trek caught the interest of New York media and sparked excitement among Wyoming residents.

The diner's move and late August arrival in LaBarge was the subject of daily news, TV and radio reports. Prime-time TV crews descended on LaBarge, and German magazines called for interviews.

Cheryl Pierce said the support from New Yorkers was especially pleasing. She said New Yorkers traveling cross country have gone out of their way to come to LaBarge to see the diner, often stopping in at the post office or the town's two gas stations to ask for directions.

"It's so exciting, and to be honest … I would have never expected such a very good response from New York when we started," she said. "It's such a world away, but it really isn't. Wyoming has much more in common with New York than what you might think."

The stainless steel-sided diner inclues the grill, counters, stools, tables and other furniture. The diner features the sleek, streamlined design of the 1920s era in which it was built, including chrome detailing, barrel roof ceilings and wrap-around windows.

The diner's most prominent feature was the huge, incandescent, revolving, crescent-shaped moon sign that's being lovingly refurbished by Vince.

Pierce admits that Manhattan's old dame has lost a bit of her Big Apple luster in recent years and will require a lot of renovation, which has begun.

The couple bought a double lot this fall in downtown LaBarge where the diner will sit. Cheryl said the lot is also the original homestead of her great-great grandmother, Mary Shinsel, and her husband, Wil, who purchased the property in 1912.

The slow pace of financial paperwork pushed back the planned reopening of the Moondance until spring. In the meantime, Cheryl and Vince have opened a catering business, aptly named Moonlight Catering. The business will provide catering services to the truck and energy industries in southwest Wyoming.

By most any measure, it was a pretty incredible year for the Pierces. Cheryl said she expects another fantastic year in 2008.

"I think 2008 will be the most exciting year of all for the Moondance," she said. "I think it will be a grand opening for the next 70 years of the Moondance Diner, which will really be great."

Southwest Wyoming bureau reporter Jeff Gearino can be reached at 307-875-5359 or at gearino@tribcsp.com.