diff --git a/bokeh/models/widgets/icons.py b/bokeh/models/widgets/icons.py
index 2fccbff3b20..14248d9a901 100644
--- a/bokeh/models/widgets/icons.py
+++ b/bokeh/models/widgets/icons.py
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 """
 from __future__ import absolute_import
 
-from ...properties import Bool, Float, Enum
+from ...properties import Bool, Float, Enum, Int
 from ...enums import NamedIcon
 from ..widget import Widget
 
@@ -35,3 +35,8 @@ class Icon(AbstractIcon):
     Indicates a spinning (animated) icon. This value is ignored for
     icons that do not support spinning.
     """)
+
+    spin_updates = Int(0, help="""
+    This is a dummy field for generated a second callback if the spin state has
+    been updated.
+    """)
diff --git a/bokehjs/src/coffee/widget/icon.coffee b/bokehjs/src/coffee/widget/icon.coffee
index e257a407478..6e1e3a1f623 100644
--- a/bokehjs/src/coffee/widget/icon.coffee
+++ b/bokehjs/src/coffee/widget/icon.coffee
@@ -4,14 +4,19 @@ HasParent = require "../common/has_parent"
 
 class IconView extends ContinuumView
   tagName: "i"
+  events:
+    "change input": "change_input"
 
   initialize: (options) ->
     super(options)
+    @prev_spin_state = @mget("spin")
     @render()
     @listenTo(@model, 'change', @render)
 
   render: () ->
+    # Reset modified html properties
     @$el.empty()
+    @$el.removeClass()
 
     @$el.addClass("bk-fa")
     @$el.addClass("bk-fa-" + @mget("name"))
@@ -25,8 +30,29 @@ class IconView extends ContinuumView
     if @mget("spin")
       @$el.addClass("bk-fa-spin")
 
+    if @prev_spin_state != @mget("spin")
+      # This is a hack to add an additional request/response cycle when updating
+      # the icon's spin attribute. Suppose we want to load a large amount of data
+      # or perform a large computation, but want to notify the user that this is
+      # happening by adding a spin animation to this icon. Since the bokeh-server
+      # only provides a single transaction for the initial action, we can't first
+      # update the spin animation and then load the data. Instead, we only update
+      # the spin animation, send back that the spin_updates counter has incremented,
+      # and then have the downstream script listen to changes in spin_updates to
+      # perform its larger actions.
+      #
+      # Try for example: bokeh-server --script examples/app/spinning_icon/spin_app.py
+      @prev_spin_state = @mget("spin")
+      @change_input()
+
     return @
 
+  change_input: () ->
+    # Increment counter of number of changes of spin
+    @mset('spin_updates', @mget('spin_updates') + 1)
+    @model.save()
+    @mget('callback')?.execute(@model)
+
 class Icon extends HasParent
   type: "Icon"
   default_view: IconView
@@ -37,8 +63,9 @@ class Icon extends HasParent
       size: null
       flip: null
       spin: false
+      spin_updates: 0
     }
 
 module.exports =
   Model: Icon
-  View: IconView
\ No newline at end of file
+  View: IconView
diff --git a/examples/app/spinning_icon/spin_app.py b/examples/app/spinning_icon/spin_app.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..ac5df875b9d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/app/spinning_icon/spin_app.py
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+"""
+Demonstrate a simple app that in response to a button click,
+updates an icon to spin and then does additional updates.
+"""
+
+from __future__ import print_function
+
+import time
+
+from bokeh.models import Plot
+from bokeh.models.widgets import VBox, Icon, Button
+from bokeh.plotting import figure, curdoc
+from bokeh.properties import Instance
+from bokeh.server.app import bokeh_app
+from bokeh.server.utils.plugins import object_page
+import numpy as np
+
+class SpinApp(VBox):
+  extra_generated_classes = [["SpinApp", "SpinApp", "VBox"]]
+  jsmodel = "VBox"
+
+  icon = Instance(Icon)
+  button = Instance(Button)
+  plot = Instance(Plot)
+
+  @classmethod
+  def create(cls):
+    obj = cls()
+    obj.icon = Icon(name="refresh")
+    obj.button = Button(label="Load", type="primary", icon=obj.icon)
+    obj.plot = figure(title="random data")
+    obj.set_children()
+    return obj
+
+  def set_children(self):
+    self.children = [self.button, self.plot]
+
+  def setup_events(self):
+    if self.icon:
+      self.icon.on_change('spin_updates', self, 'on_spin_change')
+    if self.button:
+      self.button.on_change('clicks', self, 'on_button_click')
+
+  def on_button_click(self, obj, attrname, old, new):
+    self.icon.spin = True
+
+  def on_spin_change(self, obj, attrname, old, new):
+    """On html spin update"""
+    print("SpinApp: Received spin update", attrname, old, new, self.icon.spin)
+    if self.icon.spin:
+      time.sleep(5)
+      self.load_plot()
+      self.icon.spin = False
+      self.set_children()
+      curdoc().add(self)
+
+  def load_plot(self):
+    p = figure(title="random data")
+    data_length = 100
+    p.circle(np.arange(data_length), np.random.rand(data_length), size=5)
+    self.plot = p
+
+# The following code adds a "/bokeh/spin/" url to the bokeh-server.
+@bokeh_app.route("/bokeh/spin/")
+@object_page("spin")
+def make_spin_app():
+  return SpinApp.create()