Bubbles the Whale gets a fresh coat!

This humpback whale hangs out on the pier of Provincetown, Ma. My dad , Julian Popko, coordinated the re-vamp of this cement whale last year. It was originally created by an artist for the public, then spent the last several years hiding out in someones yard in Wellfleet, elements chipping away at the paint and structure. He managed to get it back out into the public eye and onto the pier for all of the world to sit atop and take photos.

Above: john paints the lettering on one side

Heres a few photos of the retouch! Were considering doing a full body re-paint in August, when all the sisters get back into town. For now, he gets some soap and water, and some touch-up paint on his body, tail fin, and white paint on the sides and new lettering . I did the lettering, what do you think?

Its been a happy little (big) addition to the pier, where people head to their whalewatch tour, hop to the ferry and stroll to admire the fishing fleet. Bubbles is always there! When we (my dad, my sisters and I) put it out, the words CAPE COD were on the bottom, but wore off over the winter. We added PROVINCETOWN to the other side, for all the photo opps. We touched up his side fin that got quite dirty form all the climbing and also added "dont climb/hang on the tail" because all you want to do is hang off that tail. Its just a natural instinct, ever for 60 year old men. Theyve been caught hanging too! But bubbles is old, and we dont need anyone getting hurt (including the humpback)!

<----Read the original newspaper article from 2008 in the left column <-------

above: dad and john workin' hard! the planks of the pier were scorching! but it was a gorgeous day.



ps- you can see the artist sheds behind him, where they sell paintings, pottery, jewelry and other handmade goodies. Its really great! The pier if full of life!