He goes by the name Sparky the Wish Guardian, and sometimes the Devil’s Lake Creature.
No matter what you call him, though, the 13-foot sculpture erected in Lincoln City’s Regatta Grounds Park last August can add a new designation to his title:
National champion.
Sparky was selected by the American Galvanizers Association (AGA) as a winner of the 2013 Excellence in Hot-Dip Galvanizing Awards last week, earning top prize among more than 120 projects submitted.
The reason Sparky sticks out is that Lincoln City artists Heidi Erikson and Doug Kroger built him through a unique process. Created with recycled pieces of steel, round bar and retread tires, the pieces were each galvanized separately to protect from the rusting inherent to the Oregon Coast’s rainy climate and salty air.
People can view the award-winning wish guardian hovering above the south shore of Devil’s Lake at the entrance to Regatta Grounds Park. Sparky got his nickname as the guardian of wishes because his belly — constructed from recycled car metal — is a place where people are encouraged to place wishes.
For the first few months of his life Sparky had no name. That situation was resolved in December of 2012 when a contest was held to find him a name. Out of 256 entries from the community, "
Sparky" and "
Wish Guardian", two separate entries from elementary school students were chosen and concatenated, resulting in "
Sparky the Wish Guardian". Details, from the Lincoln County News, follow.
Lincoln City: Regatta Park metal sculpture at Regatta Park finally gets a name!
February 19, 2013
From: Let There Be Arts
As a result of our recent naming contest the Regatta Lake Creature has a new name. The name combines two entries submitted by two students.
Rachel Scheuing, Taft Elementary 3rd grader, who entered the name SPARKY, and Allyson Hall, Oceanlake Elementary 2nd grader, who entered WISH GUARDIAN.
CONGRATULATIONS!
The Lake Creature was created by local artist, Heidi Erickson, and was constructed by Erickson and her fellow metal sculptor, Doug Kroger. It was commissioned by Lincoln City’s Public Arts Committee and was two years in the making. It was installed at Regatta Park in August, 2012. The naming contest was held during the month of December and there were 256 names submitted by student at Oceanlake and Taft Elementary Schools, as well as from the community at large. Those entries were given to a small committee that selected 13 names they thought were good candidates. Those 13 were then give to the artist, Heidi Erickson, and her assistant, Doug Kroger, for the final selection. They decided to combine two names. Nobody involved in the selection knew who submitted the names, so it’s wonderful that both schools are represented!
From the Lincoln County News