CLOSE Eco-Earth was an eyesore in its previous life. An industrial relic from the pulp mill once operated by Boise Cascade, it was a big, black blob like something from an old sci-fi thriller. Wochit

Buy Photo The Eco-Earth sculpture at Riverfront Park has a new life with the opening of the Peter Courtney Minto Island Bridge, which will draw more visitors to the south end of the park. The sculpture was cordoned off for the last several years as construction of the bridge was underway. (Photo: MOLLY J. SMITH / Statesman Journal)Buy Photo

This is supposed to be Eco-Earth's moment in the sun.

Once on the fringe of Riverfront Park, oftentimes forgotten, the massive mosaic tile sculpture now has a highly visible location near the landing of the new pedestrian and bicycle bridge that connects to Minto-Brown Island Park.

When the community celebrates the official opening of the Peter Courtney Minto Island Bridge on Wednesday, Aug. 2, the spotlight will expose the vulnerable state of the gigantic globe.

Some of the 86,000 brightly colored ceramic tiles and 200 intricately formed pottery icons are missing or dangling from the sculpture. Broken pieces are scattered around the concrete base.

She hardly looks ready to shine.

The Acid Ball

Eco-Earth was an eyesore in its previous life. An industrial relic from the pulp mill once operated by Boise Cascade, it was a big, black blob like something from an old sci-fi thriller. It became known to locals as the acid ball.

Buy Photo The acid ball has been a fixture of the riverfront since the 1960s. It once held liquid and chemical gases used to cook wood chips and make pulp for Boise Cascade. (Photo: Statesman Journal archives)

The stainless-steel tank, covered with an asphalt-like material, once held liquid and chemical gases used to cook wood chips and make pulp. The mill was shut down in 1982.

It has been a fixture of the riverfront since the early 1960s when it was floated up the Willamette River after being built in Portland's Albina Shipyards.

When the city of Salem acquired the property in the late 1980s, it requested the acid ball be left in place, hoping it could someday become a focal point, if the riverfront stretch of blackberry thickets, weeds and gravel were to ever become a park.

A new life as art

Once the park was developed, the community set out to transform the 25-foot-diameter ball into a piece of art.

Suggestions came pouring in, with most envisioning it as a globe or a fountain. Some thought it would make a perfect sun, a smiley face, a cherry, or a lawn bowling ball. One person suggested it be slathered in mud and seeds and transformed into a giant chia pet.

The Eco-Earth board of directors, chaired by former Salem Mayor Roger Gertenrich, settled on a sculpture of earth with translucent blue tiles and colorful continents. The privately funded project kicked off in June 1999.

It was a community project, much like Salem's Riverfront Carousel a few hundred yards to the north.

The Oregon National Guard volunteered to stabilize and reinforce the structure. Countless crafts people, professional artists and local high school students helped mold and paint embellishments. Hundreds of individuals, families, and businesses donated to sponsor countries, territories, states, oceans, and seas.

It took 18 months to map out the design and another 18 months to install the tile. Volunteers worked an estimated 30,000 hours on the project.

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Buy Photo Tiles on the Eco-Earth have fallen off the large sculpture in Riverfront Park. The piece was created out of an acid ball used by the pulp mill that once stood on the site; the sculpture piece was started in 1999 by a crew of volunteers and unveiled in 2003. (Photo: MOLLY J. SMITH / Statesman Journal)

In addition to the 86,000 ceramic tiles that make up the continents and oceans, Eco-Earth features 200 clay icons depicting wildlife, cultures, religions, historical events, technology or mythical creatures.

The finished piece, guarded by a black iron fence, was unveiled June 28, 2003. Ownership was handed off to the city, a gift estimated at $1 million.

It was a beautiful addition to the landscape, a tribute to the riverfront's industrial past. But anchored at the far south end of the park, it was out of sight and out of mind.

Earth beginning to crumble

A small group of volunteers has helped maintain the sculpture over the years. Each summer, just before Riverfront Park's busy season, they gathered to weed the moat between the fence and the ball and hand wash the lower half of the globe, or what they