They have a cunning plan...
The Boston Globe amuses with Busted city has groovy idea: build a, like, huge lava lamp:

SOAP LAKE, Wash. - This economically depressed city on the arid plains of eastern Washington has been searching for something to bring back its glory days, when tourists were drawn by the lake's purported healing qualities.

Now Soap Lake's leaders are hoping a vision that came to a local design consultant as he returned from an economic development conference can revitalize this community that considers itself a haven for artists. They're thinking big. They're thinking 1970s.

''I just for some reason thought of this lava lamp,'' Brent Blake recalled. ''It just seemed one of those kind of funny ideas, then I went out and bought one and started putting some little people around it. And then I started taking it more seriously.''

The City Council is also taking it seriously. In October the council voted in support of building a working 60-foot-tall lava lamp on Main Street to draw tourists and help local businesses.

''Wouldn't you stop to see a lava lamp?'' asked Councilwoman Leslie Slough. ''A great big one?''

No.