BELLINGHAM, Wash. — Heartbroken and betrayed – that’s the feeling from many in Whatcom County after the removal of the beloved Bellingham Rock along I-5 this week.
The rock was expected to be somewhat preserved and moved to another location. But that’s not happening now.
“When I was younger, teenagers talked about painting the rock and i’m like, ‘I’m gonna paint the rock.’”
Whatcom County native Sally Odegaard first painted the Bellingham Rock 38 years ago for her boyfriend’s birthday.
“It was so much fun and he was so impressed. That might have been why he married me,” laughed Odegaard.
She says her daughter also loved the rock.
“My daughter Brittany had always said that she wanted somebody to paint the rock for her someday,” said Odegaard.
Last year, Brittany passed away from a connective tissue disease.
Odegaard painted the rock again, right before her daughter’s memorial on what would have been her 33rd birthday.
“We collaborated on a picture Brittany took of the aurora borealis and posted to her Facebook page and it looked like an angel and I’m like, ‘how perfect.’ My daughter’s nickname was “Bee” – we wrote “beelieve” underneath the angel and it was magical,” Odegaard said.
Odegaard says she’s grateful she was able to do that before the rock was removed.
“Honestly feels like an old friend died. I’m not the only one who feels that way.”
WSDOT says they had to remove the rock for a fish passage project.
There was a plan to break the rock into several large pieces, move them to a private property, and piece them back together for display.
WSDOT tells KIRO 7, because of the rock’s composition, it broke into dozens of smaller pieces during drilling and grouting.
Many like Odegaard are hoping they haven’t seen the last of the rock.
“We can’t do anything about it now, but I would like to see something done with the pieces.”
WSDOT says those pieces of the rock were moved to a location where they are watched over and are being broken down into smaller pieces and later on, they will announce when pieces will be offered to the community for a limited time.