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Saturday is, of course the 50th anniversary of astronaut Neil Armstrong becoming the first human to walk on the moon. To mark the occasion, there are celebrations taking place all over the world, notably around here at the , where they have the 鈥淐olumbia鈥� command module flown by the Apollo 11 astronauts. The museum will have music and other festivities for a 鈥淟unar Block Party.鈥�

And on Saturday morning, I鈥檒l be helping out with a group of volunteers in Edmonds where a monument and part of a parking lot that makes up 鈥淣eil Armstrong Plaza鈥� is rededicated with a ceremony at 9 a.m.

You say you haven鈥檛 heard of Neil Armstrong Plaza in Edmonds? Not many people have.

King County’s historical landmarks on the moon

Neil Armstrong Plaza is behind the Edmonds Police Station. It features an 11-foot tall, 3000-pound concrete monolith created by artist Howard Duell, the same artist who helped develop the original brass fountain in downtown Edmonds back in the 1970s. The 鈥減laza鈥� is more of a parking lot these days, and the monolith to Armstrong and Apollo XI looks not unlike a giant concrete fudgesicle.

Officially, the says that the monolith features a 鈥渄etailed bronze inlay [that] depicts Neil Armstrong and the American flag on the moon on one side, and Apollo 11 on the other side.鈥�

Neil Armstrong Plaza was originally dedicated by US Representative Lloyd Meeds and other dignitaries at high noon on July 4, 1976.

That was the big American Bicentennial year, of course, and many communities had special celebrations. But the event in Edmonds got a little bit more attention than a regular old parade or even a big fireworks show, as Governor Dan Evans also declared July 4, 1976 as 鈥淣eil Armstrong Plaza Day鈥� here in the Great State of Washington.

Neil Armstrong Plaza

According to MyEdmondsNews, this all came about because of a young man from Edmonds named Dennis Clark. It鈥檚 believed he was a 1975 Edmonds High School graduate, but that鈥檚 a little bit unclear. Clark and other students felt that commemorating the moon landing and Neil Armstrong was a perfect bicentennial project. They lead the effort to get funding, and get all the necessary permissions.

This included, perhaps not surprisingly, writing a letter to Neil Armstrong. And what was the lunar hero鈥檚 response?

鈥淎s a matter of policy, I do not encourage or prohibit the use of my name on public places or buildings,鈥� Armstrong wrote.

And it鈥檚 unclear to me if Neil Armstrong Plaza ever really caught on as a thing; I鈥檓 not sure Edmondsians (Edmondsites?) ever said 鈥渓et鈥檚 meet at Neil Armstrong, and we鈥檒l go from there.鈥� But the monolith and the plaza sat unmolested for almost 22 years until June 1998. At that time, a remodeling project began at the old Edmonds Civic Center; and the monolith went away.

Apparently, people started to notice that the monolith was gone. One person who noticed and who wondered aloud about it was Dennis Clark鈥檚 father, another was former Edmonds Mayor Laura Hall.

, 鈥淥thers in Edmonds began to hear the news. Former civic leader Laura Hall, who once served as mayor of Edmonds, perhaps speaks for many local citizens with long memories when she says she was 鈥榟orrified鈥� after looking in the [Five Corners] fire station鈥檚 yard.鈥�

As it turned out, the giant concrete fudgesicle was in a storage yard next to the fire station at Five Corners.

Laura Hall was quoted saying: 鈥楾here was Neil Armstrong, the man who walked on the moon, lying on the ground, among the weeds.”

But, much like the Apollo astronauts were returned safely from the moon, the monolith was returned safely from the weeds alongside the Five Corners fire station. And it was reinstalled and rededicated, albeit in a slightly different location than where it originally stood, on April 20, 2001.

Enough people knew about who and what the monument represented that flowers were laid there when Neil Armstrong passed away in 2012.

Parking lot behind Edmonds Police Station
Saturday, July 20 at 9 a.m.

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