| Grant County Journal, 10-14-02 |
Discuss this topic in the forums - Click here |
Brent Blake (left) and John Glassco have proposed building a giant version of a lava lamp in downtown Soap Lake as a way to revitalize the community's tourism economy. Photo by Randy Bracht
Will lava lamp light up Soap Lake?
Concept of "BIG GOO" catching on with public
BY RANDY BRACHT
of the Journal
SOAP LAKE And now, the newest addition to that old category, So cool it just might work the Giant Lava Lamp of Soap Lake.
The zany notion of building the worlds biggest beaker of bubbling goo in the home of the healing waters has captured a whimsical publics imagination.
Goo as big as cars that would be pretty amazing...After 14 million years, lava has returned to Soap Lake, quips Brent Blake, one of the co-developers of an idea that may or may not ever become reality.
But it does have people talking.
Blake, an architect and designer who splits time between the Puget Sound and Soap Lake, and John Glassco, who owns a local environmental consulting firm, were among a group of business owners attending a conference on tourism and community development earlier this year.
After a late-night brainstorming session its unreported whether alcohol was involved Blake and Glassco hit on the idea of constructing a 60-foot lava lamp as a beacon, literally, to attract visitors to Soap Lake and revitalize its slumping tourism economy.
People will come to see this from all over the world, just as they do when visiting other structures of awe, the two men stated on their appropriately addressed web site, www.giantlavalamp.com.
They make reference to other tourism icons: the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Space Needle in Seattle, and Grand Coulee Dam, right up the road from Soap Lake.
But unlike those pillars of steel and slabs of cement, a lava lamp wont just sit there.
It is an active, mesmerizing, vividly colorful and always changing kinetic structure. What other theme structures in the world possess such features? ask Glassco and Blake.
Yep, this roadside attraction could be bigger than the Shrine of the Miracle Tortilla, or even Wall Drug.
Now, if there were just some money to build it.
Were pursuing a (dollar) number. We dont want to scare people off before we get going, Blake said in a recent interview.
Itll probably take several million dollars, perhaps up to $25 million, according to a feasibility proposal submitted to state economic development officials.
Blake and Glassco have discussed the possibilities with George Sharp, with the Washington state Office of Business and Tourism Development in Olympia.
The project is also being reviewed by a consulting engineering firm in Seattle, they said.
Earlier this month, the Soap Lake City Council voted to support the leviathan lamps concept, vague though it may be. Council member Marina Romary said, perhaps facetiously, that a plaza or retail mall could be built around the lamp as a way to pay for the electricity to keep it lava-ing.
In an endorsement letter, Mayor Ken Lee told Blake,You have really started a wake-up call here and created an interest in the community with this...creative thinking.
Mayor Ken Lee admitted he wasnt too keen initially on the idea, but acknowledged its getting a lot of publicity.
Indeed it has.
On Friday, Blake was scheduled to meet with a reporter from The Associated Press, who purportedly promised to send the story around the world.
Already there have been articles in USA Today, Washington states largest newspapers and the local media, and Blake has done over a dozen radio interviews, all of which have broadened the exposure of Soap Lake and the project.
Blake and Glassco said they havent actually talked to the manufacturers of Lava Lamps, but presumably there is some awareness at the corporate level of the idea.
An English inventor, Craven Walker, is credited with perfecting the first lava lamp in the early 1960s, using a small light bulb to heat a blob of paraffin wax placed in a bottle of colored water, mineral oil, and glycol. The lamps became popular during the psychedelic pop culture of the 1960s, and have enjoyed a resurgent appeal in recent years among kids and adults alike.
Ive never even owned a lava lamp before, said Blake. People are buying them now who dont even know the history of the darned things.
But Blake says big ideas have been a part of his professional career.
You think in the most extreme ways, then scale it back to reality, he says.
As proposed, the giant lamp would contain an estimated 60,000 gallons of liquid and measure over 18 feet in diameter. With a walkway built around its reinforced glass, it would be situated with a view of the lake and community, and feature a giant searchlight visible at night.
Plans call for charging a fee to access the catwalk, and perhaps an accompanying restaurant or gift shop with souvenirs, a la the Space Needle. There could be numerous offshoot benefits for the community from tourism and retail tax dollars. Financing for maintenance and service could be provided by a combination of private foundations, contributions, and governmental sources.
While the giant glowing bottle and its bobbing blobs of goo may not become reality , Glassco and Blake are obviously enjoying the buzz their scheme has generated.
The news is dreary, our countrys economy is in a mess, but people seem to get a kick out of this, said Blake.
In web site comments received from all over the world, one former Columbia Basin native wrote, Having grown up in Moses Lake, I can honestly say the only reason I would ever return for a visit would be to see the giant Lava Lamp. If you are looking for tourists, count me in!
Another web surfer expressed concern that the giant lamps searchlight might attract alien space ships.
Is Soap Lake ready for an invasion...Oh, it is so exciting! the writer stated.
And yet another reader asked if the Grant County PUD might be worried over the power consumption needed to fire up the big lamp. The writer also wanted to know what Blake and Glassco were smoking when you dreamed this one up. I could use a bit of a lift in my imagination some days.
So, there you go. Like Kevin Costner's mythical baseball diamond in the movie, Field of Dreams, if you build it, they will come.
Man, it would be so cool, says Blake.
A conceptualized rendition of what a 60-foot lava lamp could look like in downtown Soap Lake. Photo illustration by Braden Blake