Tahku
| Tahku | |
|---|---|
 Tahku at the October 2025 No Kings protests in Juneau | |
| Artist | R.T. "Skip" Wallen |
| Year | 2018 |
| Medium | Bronze sculpture |
| Subject | Humpback whale |
| Weight | 6.5 tons |
| Location | Overstreet Park, Juneau, Alaska |
| 58°17′57″N 134°25′35″W / 58.29912°N 134.42644°W | |
Tahku is a life-size bronze sculpture of a humpback whale in Juneau, Alaska, erected in 2018.
Description
Tahku is a bronze sculpture of a breaching humpback whale standing at 25 feet tall and weighing 6.5 tons. It is accompanied by a fountain that replicates the effect of water streaming off of the animal's body as it breaches. The fountain's "whale breach sequence" is five minutes long and takes place every thirty minutes.[1] It is located in Overstreet Park in Juneau, Alaska.[2]
History
The sculpture was funded by the City and Bureau of Juneau as part of a partnership with a nonprofit organization called the Whale Project that was created to finance and develop the project.[3] The project was started to commemorate the fiftieth year of Alaska's statehood in the United States and took ten years to complete. Tahku was sculpted by R.T. "Skip" Wallen, and the water feature was designed by Chris Roy with Outside the Lines, a design-build firm based in Anaheim, California. It was erected in 2018.[1] Tahku faced controversy during development because Juneau charges a per-person tax on cruise ship passengers. Because such taxes were used by the city to construct Overstreet Park, where the sculpture is located, the local cruise industry cited the statue as an irresponsible use of such taxes.[2] The statue has served as the site of live theater events in the park.[4]
On September 2, 2025, Tahku served as the site of a Labor Day demonstration, with 85 people present. This was one of over 1,000 protests across over 900 cities on that day.[5] The next month, the statue served as the site of the October 2025 No Kings protests in Juneau, and over 1,500 people gathered for this event.[6]
References
- ^ a b "Status Update: Anaheim firm finishes work on enormous whale project in Alaska". Orange County Register. 2018-06-18. Retrieved 2025-10-27.
- ^ a b "Cruise Town, Ep. 2: The Whale and the Head Tax". KTOO. 2019-11-13. Retrieved 2025-10-27.
- ^ "A Whale of a Project". Architect Magazine. Retrieved 2025-10-27.
- ^ "Live theater meets climate catastrophe-focused message in new event". Juneau Empire. 2021-08-10. Archived from the original on 2025-08-10. Retrieved 2026-02-01.
- ^ Garrett, Jasz (2025-09-04). "Juneau joins nationwide protest after celebrating Labor Day picnic to show 'union power'". Juneau Independent. Archived from the original on 2025-09-11. Retrieved 2025-10-27.
- ^ Larson, Clarise (2025-06-16). "Juneauites join nationwide 'No Kings' protest against Trump's policies". KTOO. Archived from the original on 2025-07-03. Retrieved 2025-10-27.