Oregon's Quirky Riverfront Park By The Coast Is A Sandy Beach Getaway With A Bizarre Name

Oregon may be known for its world-class wine and rugged, mountainous scenery, but its eccentric small towns showcase a different side of the state's singularity. In the north, you'll find Shaniko, the once-abandoned "wool capital of the world," whereas in the west, you can see the world's second-largest UFO Festival in McMinnville, a quirky historic town in Oregon's wine country. On the Oregonian coast, the town of Florence may be best known for the whale explosion that occurred on its shores in 1970. Today, that curious event is commemorated by the Exploding Whale Memorial Park,  which sits on the Siuslaw River, with picnic areas, a photo-worthy oversized chair, and a small sandy riverfront beach with views of the area's iconic sand dunes.

The story of the Florence whale explosion starts on November 12, 1970, when an eight-ton sperm whale washed up on Florence's beach. The carcass was too large to cut into smaller chunks, and officials didn't want to bury it, fearing that the smell of rot wouldn't be sufficiently contained. So, they resolved to blow it up with dynamite — in theory, most of the whale bits would be blown into the ocean, and anything remaining on the beach would disintegrate quickly or get cleaned up by scavengers. The planned explosion became a town-wide event, with people gathering along the shores to witness it, but they got much more than they anticipated. Blasted whale blubber flew across the sky in the wrong direction and rained down on the bystanders. 

The event gained widespread notoriety, with footage of it becoming an early viral internet video and also inspiring the Sufjan Stevens song, "Exploding Whale." More importantly, the incident served to propel researchers to find better ways to deal with future beached whales (today, they are generally left alone wherever they are to decompose). The Exploding Whale Memorial Park is not actually at the site of the explosion and isn't even on the ocean, but it was named as such in 2020 as a tribute to the infamous event.

Exploding Whale Memorial Park is open daily from 6 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. It's located near Old Town Florence, a riverside area with historic buildings that's about an hour's drive north of the Southwest Oregon Regional Airport, or slightly over an hour from the Eugene Airport, which has more flight options from the cities in the western part of the U.S. A parking lot with bike racks is available, from which you can follow a short paved path to the park itself. Besides contemplating the notorious whale explosion, other things you can do in the park might include setting up a picnic in the covered picnic shelter or a grassy area or taking a canoe or kayak onto the Siuslaw River. Sand dunes and the Siuslaw Bridge provide a pretty backdrop for the park. Birders should bring binoculars to log the area's abundant waterfowl and other species of birds.

After spending time at Exploding Whale Memorial Park, you could cross into the Old Town to grab coffee, see some galleries on Bay Street, or just explore more of Florence, which offers all the best of a Pacific Northwest getaway. River Roasters, a well-rated coffee shop next to the water, is just a 15-minute walk from the park. From here, the Siuslaw Pioneer Museum is a five-minute walk up the street and can't be missed. It has bones from the exploded whale in its collection, as well as exhibits about the town's pioneer history. There's a small admission fee ($7 at the time of writing), and visitors under 16 years old get in for free.