Another try at turning on Lava Lamp

SOAP LAKE - It's bubbling up again.

After nearly a decade of false starts a group of Soap Lake citizens are hoping to finally move forward with their vision - construction of a giant Lava Lamp they believe will bring visitors and a resultant economic boost to town.

While the notion has drawn some criticism - and guffaws - over the years, many locals say the mere idea has already brought widespread recognition to the city, pointing out the hundreds of mentions by news agencies throughout the world that have highlighted the plan's history.

The idea was born in 2002, when Seattle architect and artist Brent Blake said he was driving through town and had an epiphany to build a fully functional, iconic 1960s-era lamp on the east shore of Soap Lake, complete with thousands of gallons of multicolored goo.

The concept was soon found to be unfeasible due to engineering issues and cost, but Blake and others started looking at the broader possibilities of building something that might eventually be seen as Soap Lake's own Eiffel Tower or Space Needle.

"It's a lighthouse, a beacon that has become embedded in the culture of the community," Blake said following a public forum. "Even if it never gets built people will always associate it with Soap Lake."

In 2004 the Target Corporation donated a 50-foot tall Lava Lamp simulator to the city, moving it from Times Square in New York.

City council members agreed to let supporters reconstruct the lamp on a right of way at Main Avenue and Canna Streets as long as no city tax funds were used for the project. But after a committee formed and various construction ideas were tossed around the idea fizzled and the unassembled mechanical affair - complete with fiberglass blobs that glide up and down and a computer the size of a Volkswagen - still sits in storage.

Supporters are now hoping to resurrect the lamp with the help of Nell and Andy Kovach, architects out of Everett, who also have a home in Soap Lake. The Kovachs developed a new plan to "take the design into the 21st century" with a 60-foot structure built on a bluff above the beach that would simulate the lamp's look using state-of-the art technology and materials.

Andy Kovach told an audience of about 60 people last week that the lamp would cost about $1 million to build, with an associated interpretive trail system and park running another $1 million.

"We see this as more than just a roadside attraction," he said.

He and other supporters say the project could be paid for by corporate sponsorships, private grants and community donations. Upkeep of the structure would be paid for through an agreement with Lava Lite LLC, the company that holds the Lava Lamp trademark and gave the city rights to use the brand and keep a percentage of profits from the sale of Soap Lake Lava Lamp merchandise. Other money-making ideas include projecting sponsored images onto the lamp and conducting paid tours of the lamp's interior.

Kovach said the lamp project has received "overwhelming support and endorsement" from several organizations, including the Grant County Economic Development Council, Grant County Tourism Board and the Columbia Basin Foundation.

While fundraising will likely take some time, Kovach said it might just turn things around for the town.

"Over the last ten years we've seen a lot of storefronts open and close, open and close, and the situation seems to be getting worse," he said. "At first we thought this concept was a little whacky but ... the concept is still strong and people are still asking about it. Soap Lake's already known as the home of the giant Lava Lamp. Now all we have to do is build it."

Most of those present at last the public forum shared Kovach's hope that the lamp might revitalize the town's economy, which relies heavily on tourism, and many said it would fit right in with Soap Lake's small yet vibrant arts community.

"The Lava Lamp was not only the seminal symbol of the 1960s and 1970s, it's one of those things that everyone's seen and brings us back to a simpler, fun, different time," said Al Lundberg, who chairs the Soap Lake Lava Lamp Committee.

He has been involved with the project for about seven years.

The majority of those present at the forum were in favor of the project, but some community members expressed concern that there has been little transparency in regard to the plan's specifics. A few questioned whether feasibility studies have been done on the construction costs and projected revenue for maintenance.

"I don't want to see this become Soap Lake's Town Toyota," one man said, referring to Wenatchee's public-funded events center that has brought the city into debt.

Kovach assured him that a full budget and construction schedule has been completed, although nothing has so far been published.

Soap Lake business owner Loren Richards brought out his own formula, saying that if just 10 percent of the vehicles travelling down Daisy Street every day could be enticed onto Main Street, and if the occupants of those vehicles spent just $20 in town, millions could be brought into Soap Lake on an annual basis.

"We all know a dollar turns seven times in a community before it leaves," Richards said.

Lundberg agreed, saying he first got involved with the project because he was tired of seeing millions of visitors to the area bypass the town.

"If we could get a small fraction of those people who are traveling by to stop and get out of their cars, I'm sure business people of this town could figure out how to get money out of their pockets," he said. "When we build it and they come, they're going to want to buy the T-shirt."