The Great Salt Lick in Social Media
The Great Salt Lick/Salt Lick City Contest started as a joke. There may have been a beer or two involved...
I was sitting on the porch of a friend’s cabin admiring the shape of a salt lick the deer had worked on and I began thinking that it sure beat some of the sculptures in parks and in front of buildings. You know the ones—the boulders with a chip knocked out of them masquerading as art that some artist has been paid a six-figure sum for.
Not only were the animals creating these blocks not getting paid, but they were being eaten. In any case the idea of a contest formed and one thing led to another...
October 27th 2007, after a one-month showing, 29 blocks were auctioned off for a total of just over $4,000—a heroic effort from the small-but-great community of Baker County, Oregon. The blocks came from as far away as Las Vegas, and even included a salt block from Germany (submitted in photographic form). The money raised during the contest was donated to the Oregon Health and Science University/Movement Disorder Clinic.