‘Acid ball’ at Bellingham’s new waterfront park vandalized again

Since the opening of Waypoint Park in mid-July, the “acid ball” has been vandalized twice with graffiti, according to Steve Janiszewski, Park Operations Manager.

Several days after the park opened, a public works employee noticed the lower part of the acid ball, its legs and LED lights and wooden seat cubes nearby had been tagged with paint, Janiszewski said.

“The whole purpose of the sculpture is to touch it and see it and see it lit up at night, so we were kind of discouraged when we found out it had been sprayed with paint,” Janiszewski said.

The acid ball, built in 1938, is a remnant of the Georgia-Pacific pulp and paper mill that once operated on Bellingham’s waterfront. The spherical tank was used to store acid that helped break down wood chips.

A Seattle architectural firm hired by the city transformed the more than 400,000-pound orb into a sculpture this summer. The reflective glass beads on the acid ball are a coating to help illuminate the sculpture when it is lit at night. Because of this, city crews can’t put a “vandal-proof” coating on it, Janiszewski said.

Janiszewski said graffiti was first discovered on July 15, and staff began working to remove the paint three days later. Janiszewski said it took about 10 hours, using graffiti remover, a grinder and a pressure washer, to remove about 75 percent of the paint, he said.

On Aug. 15, a work crew went back to remove the rest of the paint, which was embedded in the glass beads that help light the sculpture. This time, they tried paint remover and urethane and took off the glass beads before later reapplying them, Janiszewski said.

On Oct. 15, the legs of the acid ball were tagged again, Janiszewski said. All total, the crew spent nearly 20 hours removing the graffiti at a cost of about $1,000, Janiszewski said.

Security footage at the site wasn’t able to catch the suspect or suspects, and Janiszewski said if people see similar incidents happening to call 911 and try to get a description of the culprits.

“This is a beautiful new park and we want to keep it in good condition.,” he said. “It’s an important feature in the park to experience, to get up close to see it. We’ll do our best to keep it graffiti free.”