Editing Exploding whale (section)

====Renewed interest====
The story was brought to widespread public attention by writer [[Dave Barry]] in his ''[[Miami Herald]]'' column of May 20, 1990, when he reported that he possessed footage of the event. Barry wrote: "Here at the institute we watch it often, especially at parties." Some time later, the Oregon State Highway division started to receive calls from the media after a shortened version of the article was distributed on bulletin boards under the title "''[[The Far Side]]'' Comes to Life in Oregon". The unattributed copy of Barry's article did not explain that the event had happened approximately 25 years earlier. Barry later said that, on a fairly regular basis, someone would forward him his own column and suggest he write something about the described incident.<ref>
 {{cite book |author=Barry |first=Dave |author-link=Dave Barry |title=[[Dave Barry in Cyberspace]] |publisher=[[Ballantine Books]] |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-517-59575-6 |location=New York City |pages=164–165 |oclc=34943209}}</ref> As a result of these omissions, an article in the ODOT's ''TranScript'' notes that:

{{blockquote|"We started getting calls from curious reporters across the country right after the electronic bulletin board story appeared," said Ed Schoaps, public affairs coordinator for the Oregon Department of Transportation. "They thought the whale had washed ashore recently, and were hot on the trail of a governmental blubber flub-up. They were disappointed that the story has twenty five years of dust on it."

Schoaps has fielded calls from reporters and the just plain curious in Oregon, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and [[Massachusetts]]. ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'' called, and Washington, D.C.–based ''[[Governing (magazine)|Governing]]'' magazine covered the immortal legend of the beached whale in its June issue. And the phone keeps ringing. "I get regular calls about this story," Schoaps said. His phone has become the blubber hotline for ODOT, he added. "It amazes me that people are still calling about this story after nearly twenty five years."<ref name="snopes"/>
}}

The KATU footage resurfaced later as a video file on several websites, becoming a [[viral video]].<ref name="hackstadtevidence">
 {{cite web
 | first=Steven|last=Hackstadt
 | title=The Evidence
 | url=http://theexplodingwhale.com/#evidence
 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131109035349/http://theexplodingwhale.com/
 | archive-date = November 9, 2013
 | publisher=TheExplodingWhale.com
 | access-date=November 17, 2013
}}</ref> A 2006 study found that the video had been viewed 350{{nbsp}}million times across various websites.<ref>{{cite news
 | title=Star Wars Kid is top viral video
 | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6187554.stm
 | work=[[BBC News]]
 | date=November 27, 2006
 | access-date=July 17, 2013
 | archive-date=March 9, 2011
 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110309065824/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6187554.stm
 | url-status=live
 }}</ref> In 2020, residents of Florence voted to name a new recreational area "Exploding Whale Memorial Park" in honor of the incident;<ref>{{cite news |last=Pietsch |first=Bryan |date=June 20, 2020 |title='Exploding Whale' Park Memorializes Blubber Blast 50 Years Later |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/20/us/exploding-whale-memorial-park.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 20, 2020 |archive-date=June 20, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200620214802/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/20/us/exploding-whale-memorial-park.html |url-status=live }}</ref> it also has a memorial plaque.<ref name=":0" /> For the 50th anniversary of the event, KATU pulled the original [[16 mm film|16 mm]] footage from the archives and released a remastered edition of the news report in [[4K resolution]].<ref>{{cite news |title=The Exploding Whale remastered: 50th anniversary of legendary Oregon event |url=https://katu.com/news/local/the-exploding-whale-50th-anniversary-of-legendary-oregon-event |access-date=12 November 2020 |work=KATU |date=12 November 2020 |archive-date=November 13, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201113000702/https://katu.com/news/local/the-exploding-whale-50th-anniversary-of-legendary-oregon-event |url-status=live }}</ref> Commemorating the anniversary as well, locals were reported to visit the beach and dress as whales.<ref name=":0" />

Florence celebrates Exploding Whale Day annually at Exploding Whale Memorial Park. In 2024, the public was invited to build an altar for the exploded whale.<ref>{{cite news |title= Exploding Whale Day now a full-fledged holiday on the Oregon coast. Here's how to celebrate |url=https://www.oregonlive.com/travel/2024/11/exploding-whale-day-now-a-full-fledged-holiday-on-the-oregon-coast-heres-how-to-celebrate.html |access-date= 7 November 2024 |work=Oregon Live |date= 7 November 2024}}</ref>