Hopes dim on Soap Lake's Lava Lamp

SOAP LAKE -- A plan to erect a giant lava lamp in downtown Soap Lake as a tourist attraction was nearly scrapped after the Soap Lake Conservancy pulled out of the project a few weeks ago, Mayor Wayne Hovde said.

But on Monday, a committee to erect the 50-foot mechanical lamp once displayed by Target in New York City’s Times Square opted to go back to an original plan that will rebuild part of the lamp and seek donations, the Soap Lake mayor said.

That will cost about $1.5 million, he said.

“The committee met and we’re not going to throw it under the bus. We’re going to find ways to continue without the tower,” Hovde said in a telephone interview on Wednesday.

He said for the last few weeks, after the conservancy backed out of plans to help construct and maintain a tower built into the side of the lamp, the future of Soap Lake’s lamp with big bubbling blobs was in doubt.

Promotors first came up with the idea for this unique tourist attraction six years ago, and in February 2005, the lamp arrived in Soap Lake in pieces. It’s been stored in a warehouse since then, waiting to be erected.

The problem: The lamp is not a 360-degree structure, but has a one-quarter chunk missing, where it used to fit into the side of the Target building.

The city had been working with the Soap Lake Conservancy to build and install a 70-foot tower to fit into that quarter section of the lamp.

John Glassco, chairman of the conservancy’s board of trustees, said his group was interested because the tower would bring people to a height that would highlight the natural and geologic qualities of Soap Lake.

“We thought it would be great if people would come to see the lamp, and get out of their cars and climb the tower,” Glassco said, adding, “It would be a different kind of view.”

He said the conservancy was only interested in maintaining the structure if it had control of the project for at least 60 years. But prior legal arrangements between the city and Haggerty Enterprises of Elmhurst, Ill. — the former owners of Lava World International Inc., which still has rights to the marketing of Soap Lake’s giant lamp — inhibit what the conservancy could do to promote the lamp and viewing tower, he said.

“We withdrew our interest in the project, and basically, that’s that,” Glassco said.

Hovde said after so much time and effort was put into including a tower, it was tough to change directions. Some were ready to drop the whole project.

“We were all very, very supportive of that tower,” he said. But without the conservancy, the city needed to look at other options. “The tower would have to be maintained. And because it’d be a public climbing tower, we would have to have attendants. The city’s not in that type of business,” he said.

On Monday, the lava lamp committee revived its original plan to design and build the empty quarter of the lamp to make it a stand-alone structure. That plan still has to be approved by those who own the rights to it.

Hovde estimated it will take two or three months to come up with final plans.

There’s not a timeline yet for raising funds or erecting the lamp. But there is renewed energy around the project. “There is still the enthusiasm and desire from local people that they want that up,” he said.

• Jobs
  www.yakjobs.com
• Homes
  www.yakhomes.com
• 
• 
  
• Autos
  www.yakwheels.com

• All Special Pubs Yakima Magazine Channels YakJobs.com YakWheels.com YakHomes.com Playdate Yakima Bride Yakima Wheels (Print) Home Buyer's Guide Baby Brag Book Graduates 2009 Summer in the Valley Prep Football 2009 Women in Business Holiday Gift Guide
• Advertisement