Whaling Wall boosts county into global community -- and it's free

By GREG HAMILTON

© St. Petersburg Times, published October 22, 2000

Just when it appears that all of the changes along U.S. 19 are aimed at degrading the beauty of our community, a ray of sunshine is breaking through.

Sure, it's only 400 square feet, a virtual speck compared to the mammoth megastores and car dealerships that are swallowing the busy highway like Georgia kudzu. Many drivers, especially those heading south on 19, may not even notice it.

But, oh, are we lucky to get it!

As you read this, the internationally acclaimed artist Wyland (you know he's the real deal because he only needs one name) is halfway through creating a mural on the south wall of the Visitors Center at the Homosassa Springs State Wildlife Park. He and his entourage are expected to finish the masterpiece in time for Monday's dedication at noon.

Wyland, in case you hadn't heard, is a great lover of nature, particularly marine life, and has traveled the world painting outdoor murals that celebrate the wonders of the deep. He calls these masterpieces -- which he creates for free -- Whaling Walls, and hopes to paint 100 of them across the planet.

Citrus County's Whaling Wall will be No. 86 and will put us on the map with communities from Canada and Mexico to France, Japan, Australia and New Zealand that host these civic treasures. It is estimated that 1-billion (that's with a B) people around the world view these walls annually.

Ours will also be one of the smallest Whaling Walls. Compared with the others, some of which are 90 feet tall and hundreds of feet long, this one will be a postage stamp. But what it lacks in size it will make up for in depth. Wyland is working on a very detailed depiction of our hometown heroes -- the endangered manatees -- in a sanctuary.

You should take time today to go to the park and watch this master work. Wyland paints entirely free-form, using no sketches or grids on the wall. In fact, he doesn't really know what he's going to paint until he begins. Bring your kids and grandkids, because they won't see the likes of this again.

It helps to put this event into some sort of context.

Wyland is giving us this gift because, like so many tourists, he visited the county two years ago, swam with the manatees and was hooked. Does that familiar story sound like yet another strong endorsement of efforts to protect the manatees, our very own cash seacows, and to bolster eco-tourism here?

(Attention: Tourism Development Council and Eco-Tourism Committee. If you have not already notified your printer that a new brochure featuring the Wyland Whaling Wall is on its way, what the heck are you waiting for?)

Look, too, at how Wyland was lured here to work. Larry Shearin, president of the Friends of Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park, a volunteer, targeted the artist and lobbied him for several years before finally reeling him in.

Shearin has compared getting a Whaling Wall to receiving $1-million in donations, a huge boost for the park and for the local economy. His efforts were narrow and calculated to succeed -- and did not cost the taxpayers anything.

Does that sound like a blueprint for the great minds of the failing Economic Development Council?

Consider, too, that a flock of sandhill cranes are lumbering their way to Citrus County as you read this. They're the vanguard of a wonderful wildlife experiment aimed at getting another endangered species, whooping cranes, to migrate here for the winter.

This is yet another potential windfall for the local economy as it instantly places Citrus at the forefront of destinations for serious bird-watchers as well as scientists. That's a huge, lucrative and booming recreation industry as retiring baby boomers with expensive binoculars and lavish RVs take to the road to follow their feathered friends.

Hmmm. Two of the biggest economic development success stories today have nothing to do with soaking the local taxpayer, do not necessitate pouring tons of concrete or mowing down trees, and came about because someone had a simple and clear idea for success.

They also merge tourism, ecology, artistry and recreation to capitalize on what is already here rather than trying to make Citrus County into something it's not.

Meanwhile, the builders' association fights rules aimed at making the "big box" stores like Home Depot look somewhat presentable, the government puts out the welcome mat for wall-to-wall development along U.S. 19 even as stores like Publix are leaving the corridor, and the EDC, which can't seem to get out of its own way, asks for more public dollars. Does anyone else see a pattern here?

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