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Wagon Man Makes It To Pre-Super Bowl

Not one to circle the wagons to have a jamboree in his honor, Marlen Halverson was excited in the last week to be a part of something pretty big. He's known in the area as the "wagon man," and in Arizona where he weathers out the winter he's known as "Montana."

Halverson said that he had some excitement before one of the biggest televised events in history took place not far from his winter retreat. One of his wagons, a prairie schooner, made it into the Dan Patrick Show. This particular wagon has been driven in Malta and Scobey and was transferred to Arizona. Because he's known for his old western wagons, when they began looking for a wagon to use in an old fake frontier town, they were pointed his direction.

The contract was with Direct TV for part of the sports announcers show. They spent about a week setting up this old frontier town, with the wagon hooked up to horses and a fake cemetery with the names off all the NFL teams that didn't make it to Arizona for the Superbowl. Locals had to see their beloved "Arizona Cardinals" on one of the tombstones, but it seemed it was all in good fun.

"They tore it down two days before the Super Bowl," Halverson said.

The opening shot for the show has the "Danettes" appear, with just a brief shot of the wagon as Todd Fritz is shown before the start of the nationally syndicated show. Halverson said it was kind of nuts to watch the people swarm into town starting up to two weeks before the Superbowl took place. He's been selling and working with wagons for 16 years and hadn't quite had that experience before.

"I really thought that was something to see," Halverson said.

The particular wagon that appeared on television was made for a lighter load that could help move across the long journey west. Unfortunately it didn't really have much room for extras. Halverson described the wagon as 38 inches wide and 11 feet long, compared to the usual conestoga box, which is about 44 inches wide and 16 to 22 feet long. Halverson is pretty sure he won't forget his wagon's short stint of fame.

 

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