50-foot lava lamp may help dying town

SOAP LAKE, Wash., Jan. 2 (UPI) -- A 50-foot fake lava lamp might do the trick to bring tourists back to Soap Lake, Wash., and its purported legendary healing powers.

Local businessman Brent Blake is waiting for the lamp to arrive by truck in hopes it could attract some of the 1.5 million tourists who visit Grand Coulee Dam every year, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported Sunday.

Vacationers once lathered up with suds left by Soap Lake's unusually heavy mineral content created by a glacier 10,000 years ago but over the years interest dried up.

"The lava lamp will make it a better town," Blake said gazing toward the spot where the five-story faux lamp would tower above the town's two-story skyline. "I know it sounds crazy. That's the whole point."

Last year he heard from the Target department store chain, which had a 50-foot fake lamp it didn't want anymore and offered it to Soap Lake for free, including disassembly from a building in New York's Times Square and shipping.

Blake insists it's on the way, but some townspeople remain skeptical.

"Personally, I think it's a ridiculous idea," said resident Oscar Crain. "But if it helps Soap Lake, then so be it. People here will take any economic boost."