Lava Lite project continues in Soap Lake

Money will come through donations

SOAP LAKE - Soap Lake is continuing to examine ways to erect the roughly 50-foot Lava Lite.

This is after the Soap Lake Conservancy backed out of a deal to build a 75-foot-tall tower to support the Lava Lite.

Mayor Wayne Hovde said the Lava Lite advisory committee decided to discuss the project with Atomic Properties, the company which built the display and created plans for the project last year.

The mayor said it is still too early to discuss specifics for the project.

The estimated $1.5 million in funds for the project will come through donations.

"We're very hopeful it will happen," he said.

The lamp, which came to Soap Lake in 2004, is designed to be attached to a side of a building. Since there wasn't a building large enough in the city, the conservancy decided to build a structure, said John Glassco, the president of the conservancy.

The problem revolves around the city's 2006 agreement with Haggerty Enterprises, the owner of the Lava Lite trademark. The agreement requires Haggerty's approval for anything using the lamp.

"At any time they would be in position to default and it would have to be arbitrated in Chicago," Glassco said. "It would be impractical."

Hovde disagrees with Glassco's interpretation of the agreement with Haggerty.

"It's is an amazement and wonderment why all of the sudden this came up and they decided it wouldn't work," he said.

The conservancy asked the city to contact the company, so they could provide input, he said, but the company replied it was more comfortable dealing with the city.

"We were putting up the money and taking all risk," Glassco said. "We would have been subject to control by a company from out of state."

Building the tower alone wouldn't support the conservancy's goals, he said. The group wanted to restore the lamp as a New York sign.

"I'm not sure the tourists would come to see the tower by itself," Glassco said. "It would have made a unique roadside attraction (with the lamp).