Catoosa, Oklahoma's blue whale still grinning over national attention

Blue is an icon on the Mother Road; the cement blue whale's toothy grin warmly greets travelers making their way down the historic highway.

In July, Time magazine published a list of the Top 50 American Roadside Attractions, and Blue made the list.

Last weekend, "Fins of the Blue Whale," a committee of about seven Catoosans, officially opened a souvenir stand next to the whale where visitors can buy a T-shirt, set of five vintage Blue Whale postcards from the '70s or a bottle of Blue Whale water.

Last weekend, Blue was visited by about 600 motorcyclists cruising State Highway 66 as part of the "Motoring the Mother Road" adventure.

Things are looking up for Blue. He even has his own Facebook and Twitter accounts.

But old Blue has seen better days.

In his glory days in the '70s and early '80s, kids dove from Blue into the swimming hole he guarded. The more daring kids jumped from the diving board perched high atop his stately tail. The conservative kids stuck to sliding into the pond from the slides on the side of the whale.

Alongside Blue's pond, there used to be an ARK (Animal Reptile Kingdom) and Alligator Ranch, where kids could have a birthday party and buy snacks. Alligator Ranch later became a kiddie zoo called Nature Acres.

For locals such as Jennifer Edwards, a day spent with Blue was a great day. Now the chairman of the committee working to preserve the whale, she remembers being 10 years old and jealously watching friends frolicking in the coveted swimming hole.

"My mother wouldn't let me because she was terrified of snakes, and she was afraid there were snakes there," she said. "And there weren't, because there were so many kids in there, a snake wouldn't even think to come close."

But kids don't swim there anymore. Today, Blue still smiles broadly, but what he sees isn't what it used to be. The ARK is swallowed up with weeds, and the wood it's built with is splintered and rotted. Nature Acres is shut down and boarded up.