Beloved Boise Landmark Loses Her Head…Again

If you drove down Vista over the weekend, you may have noticed that something was a little bit off about Betty the washerwoman. 

Not familiar with Betty? She's the animatronic woman proudly washing clothes on top of the sign for Cucina di Paolo, a family owned and operated Italian restaurant on Vista Avenue...but on Sunday afternoon, it looked like Betty had partied a little too hard to finish the laundry. Facebook user Laura C. posted a photo of Betty in the Boise Bench Dwellers Facebook group with the caption "Betty has lost her head and mooning everyone who drives by!" Her photo clearly showed the washerwoman's skirt blown up and Betty's head missing.

So what happened to Betty? Group members posted their best guesses. Many believed that Betty had been damaged and lost her head during the gnarly windstorm that blew through on Saturday morning.  Judging by the way her skirt looked, that seemed like a solid assumption but that's when Kara S. popped in to let people know that Betty was headless on Friday before the storm moved in. The focus then turned to potential vandalism like the incident in May where someone threw something at Betty's head with enough force to snap it in half from the right eye.

Turns out none of those guesses were true! Group member Ramona P. talked to Mary Jean Wegner, one of Cucina di Paolo's owners. Ramona reported back to the group that Betty was in need of some neck repairs and that's why her head had been taken off. Mary Jean supposedly loves Halloween and joked to Ramona that she can be the Headless Washerwoman to celebrate the spooky season.