Sayre’s Western Motel Neon Sign Shines Again

From the left, Kimberly and Justin Harrell; Rishi, Charlie and Chhaya Patel; Kay Ross and Ted Lawson on the first night the Western Motel neon sign relit, Sept 12, 2026

by Richard Stephens, Jr.

On Sept. 12, with the flick of a switch, the Western Motel’s neon sign once again blazed bright in the night on Route 66 as 50 people from Sayre’s community, Kansas and Texas cheered at its relighting. 

It was a moment that took decades to occur and did occur because Sayre’s community worked together.

Before the relighting ceremony at 8:00 p.m., Dwinna Smith of Pampa, Texas, the granddaughter of Ollie and Ruby Elliott, the original owner-operators who built Western Motel, gave examples of how she helped working summers from age 10-12. Smith booked rooms, handled telephone calls using a switchboard (moving plug-in cables) and turned on porch lights and the neon sign. Her grandparents had a bird named “Korky.” “When guests would…open the door and the bell would ring, he (Korky) would yell, ‘Ruby,’ or ‘Ollie’ and would imitate them.”

Sayre’s city manager, Ted Lawson, said it took a village to work together on the project. Individuals donated money to a “Go Fund Me” account and directly to the Patels and posted flyers around town requesting donations.         

Justin and Kimberly Harrell, co-owners of Just-In-Time Signs, are part of the village. “It took two and a half months to get it done with neon, parts and pieces and building stuff,” said Justin. He used sub-contractors to cut and shape the neon tubes and buy transformers. Just-In-Time cleaned and reskinned the porcelain sign, rewired it, replaced transformers and chaser light sockets and other work.

“It feels great to redo part of history…It makes me feel proud and all our employees are proud of what we do,” said Justin. “It’s got a few little bumps in it and a little bit of rust, but that gives it character.”

Kay Allen, Chairman of Sayre’s Dust Bowl Days Festival and a part-time Sayre employee, encouraged the crowd to send their friends to the Western Motel to give them business.

Chetan “Charley” and his wife, Chhaya Patel, today’s owners, beamed with delight after their son turned on the sign. Charley said, “We are happy and we all loved to turn the sign on. We tried from 2016 to fix the sign but didn’t have enough time and money. In 2024, we tried again.” His family is happy the Oklahoma Route 66 Association funded half of the cost. “They gave us the biggest support to turn on the sign. If they didn’t help us, I don’t think we’re going to make the sign light.”

Ollie Elliott and Ruby Elliott pose in front of the Western Motel office. Photo courtesy of Dwinna Smith.

Its name has always been Western Motel, it's always been at 315 N.E. Highway 66 and it’s always been family operated. “Ollie Elliott and his wife Ruby were the owner-operators and boasted ‘pink rock faced brick from the Hinton quarry and Bagdad rosewood trim’” when they opened it August 30, 1959, according to research from the Oklahoma Route 66 Association. An article was published here here last October about fundraising efforts that went deeper into the history of the property.

Customer traffic slowed when the I-40 bypass opened in 1970 and the Elliotts sold the motel in 1974. One attendee at the sign relighting, Melinda (Mindy) Colbeit, said it was bought by Shelli Hanson about 1980 and she and her husband operated it for a while. The Route 66 Association article stated that Renee Russell and her husband purchased the motel in 1993 and Priti Patel purchased it in 2009. Charley and Chhaya bought it from Priti in 2016.

Charley said the sign was dark long before they bought the motel in 2016; it probably stopped lighting in the 1980s. The Patels wanted the neon sign repaired but replacement glass parts and labor quotes were expensive. So, they applied for a grant from the Oklahoma Route 66 Association’s 2024 Neon Sign Grant Program and waited. In 2025, funds became available and covered about half of the $36,000 needed. 

The Patels took action to get their distinctive sign with its attractive neon colors and running lights lit again and now it beckons tired travelers to rest there.