SPOKANE, Wash. — Down a long ribbon of freeway, past endless fields and a limitless horizon, it appears that aliens have landed their UFO on the outskirts of Spokane.
"The spaceship, which is not for sale, that's my favorite piece," said Mark Ferguson, co-owner of the alien-shaped structure and all the other strange objects around it.
The world’s most passive guard dog, ‘Batman,’ is also not for sale.
"And you can’t afford him," Ferguson laughed.
Batman greets a visitor without getting up from his napping position, his tail slowly wagging a friendly hello.
But almost everything else is up for grabs here at 'Way Out West,' also known as that crazy-looking place by the side of I-90.
"You wouldn’t believe how many people have that exact same story when they come in, ‘We saw you when we were driving into town last night.'"
Ferguson and his brother, Mike, moved their antique furniture business out here from downtown about 15 years ago. It slowly but surely morphed into a yard art enterprise.
The owners must love this bustling location, right next to a freeway full of thousands of potential customers, right?
"I hate it! You kidding?" Ferguson said, raising his voice above the roar of traffic. "I think it’s affecting my hearing."
But what’s bad for Ferguson’s ears is great for his bottom line.
"If we were one mile off the interstate we wouldn’t be in business," he said.
Business is booming these days, right along with the national home improvement trend, especially for unique finds such as sculpted metal mariachi musicians and life-sized fiberglass cattle. They're imported items that would be hard to find anywhere else.
"Ninety-eight percent of this is from Mexico. Down around Loreto and Juarez," Ferguson said. "And the other two percent is from China."
Every spring, 'Way Out West' heads way down south of the border to do business with their artisan suppliers.
"We fill up a big 53-foot semi," Ferguson said.
The biggest sellers are solariums.
"They’re very elegant," Ferguson said. "They look very Victorian even though they’re new."
Here, dinosaurs still walk the earth.
"Some are made out of aluminum, and the aluminum comes from recycled transmissions and tire rims and things like that," Ferguson explained.
The prehistoric pieces are selling like they’re going extinct.
"Brontosaurus, T-rex, they just go crazy," Ferguson said of his customers, "They love it."
You can find it all right here, west on 90, exit 272, third right at the traffic circle... well... you’ll figure it out.
"Come heaven or hell or high water they find it."
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