Plan B Forum

Nov. 12, 1970 is an auspicious day in Oregon history.  It is the day Olympic figure-skater Tonya Harding was born in Portland.

It is also the day that engineers in the small city of Florence (pop. 9100), located on the Oregon coast about 60 miles due west of Eugene, decided to use dynamite to remove a massive sperm whale carcass from the beach.



So, of course, Florence is finally honoring this immortal occasion with .... a new park!



The name of the new park, “Exploding Whale Memorial Park”, was selected by the town residents themselves.  “We asked the community for name suggestions, narrowed those 120-plus names down to nine, and had the community vote on them,” said Florence city project manager Megan Messmer.

The park offers views of the Siuslaw River and Bridge and the sand dunes on the south side of the river, according to the City of Florence’s website.







There are picnic tables and a shelter and a multi-use path....
.... but, sadly, no whale carcasses, exploded or otherwise.

-"BB"-

A great blast from the past. That whale blowed up REEEAL good!

A tale of a whale, for sure.

I remember them interviewing the poor guy with the new Olds 98 Regency*. Can that be 50 years ago?

And now, for your enjoyment:
http://theexplodingwhale.com/archives/2 ... -dan-tanz/

*Corrected after viewing additional You Tube videos. I thought it was a Toronado. (Spanish for swimming bull, more or less.)
The interview that came from was on the 25th anniversary. Maybe that's the one I remember.

Thar she sorta blows.

"Only some of the whale was disintegrated..."

Was it a Blew whale?

The answer my friend, is blowin' in the wind.

...like a bird that flew, tangled up 'n blew.

And the rest, after a sudden wet thud, was silence.