Kickball, cannabis and the world’s largest lava lamp: Soap Lake knows how to party! The Central Washington community, population 1,500, is trying to update its image, and hopes legal marijuana and events associated with it will bring new business and tourists. “In the early 1900s, Soap Lake was the biggest tourist destination in the state because of the mineral water,” said Soap Lake Mayor Raymond Gravelle. But like many small, rural towns, the economy declined, downtown storefronts were boarded up, and the town became a little shabby over the decades. In the 11 years since Gravelle moved to Soap Lake, things have started to pick up, due to an award-winning downtown renovation and work by civic leaders to bring in millions of dollars in grant money to improve infrastructure. Gravelle hopes to keep the momentum going by turning the town into a tourist destination for not only the benefits of the lake, but also cannabis offerings. “We are hoping to jump on the bandwagon of getting those tax dollars. We are promoting businesses to come settle in Soap Lake,” said Gravelle, who is also open to other kinds of businesses outside of pot. With Soap Lake’s history, he thinks cannabis has a natural place in the community. The lake’s mineral-rich waters have long been believed to have medicinal value and people travel from all over the world to soak in it. Soap Lake’s name, originally the Native American word “Smokiam,” translates to “healing water.” “We have a lake that is known for its healing properties. When you look at the medicinal qualities of marijuana, they complement each other,” Gravelle said. “We call ourselves Washington’s health resort, so this fits right in with the health aspect.” That’s not just Gravelle’s opinion. The town’s entire city council backs him in the quest to capitalize on cannabis for the good of the community. “Probably within the first year of [marijuana] being legalized, the city council passed the necessary ordinance to allow cannabis operations to come in,” he said. Next, the question was, where will cannabis businesses be located in the small town? Gravelle, a Realtor, has that covered too. “Our little town has one relatively small area that meets the 1,000-foot buffer requirement (for cannabis businesses),” he said. “We call that our marijuana zone.” While the designated marijuana zone currently is only home to storage units, its future is bright. “With my Realtor hat on I secured a listing for vacant land of 2.7 acres and marketed it as canna-friendly,” he said. The pitch worked. A company out of Seattle bought the property and is planning a retail marijuana shop with an attached grow operation behind glass that tourists can view. There is also a 10- to 12-room boutique hotel in the works by the same company. Gravelle said the company has a similar hotel in Daytona Beach, Fla., and wants to expand to Washington. The grow operation is scheduled to start this spring but it’s not clear when the hotel will be built, despite Gravelle’s enthusiasm. “Not fast enough for me,” he said. However, this project might have some delays at the national level. Many officials are concerned about comments from the Trump administration about cracking down on marijuana. But so far the city hasn’t invested a lot of money into making the area a marijuana mecca yet. In the meantime, Gravelle is marketing other available property in the marijuana zone and plans to bring in community events. “I’m working with the Soap Lake Chamber of Commerce to encourage more cannabis-related events,” Gravelle said. “Because we’re an art place, we want to have an ‘art in the park’ kind of event. Then we said, ‘we have to have music.’ And we’ve got wine around here so maybe we can have wine.” Throw marijuana into the mix and you have “WAMM: Wine, Art, Marijuana and Music,” a community cultural event Gravelle is working on organizing for the future. A successful cannabis-themed event held last fall in Soap Lake has him convinced there is a market for marijuana. The Cannabis Alliance, a non-profit business association based in Washington, organized a day-long kickball tournament and invited state processors to compete against state retailers. The family-friendly event also featured a parade through town and a smoking tent for those 21 and over. Gravelle said the event went well and the city looks forward to hosting it again. And then there is the city’s giant lava lamp. The town has been working toward building a 60-foot functional lamp as a tourist attraction for over a decade. Gravelle says it is still on the books. “We just need to come up with a million dollars to build it,” he said. With increased revenue from marijuana businesses, this goal could happen sooner rather than later. Side benefits could be a lot of people re-living some fond youthful memories of getting stoned in their bedroom and starring at a lava lamp for hours. b