Big grizzly now guards Everett car wash

EVERETT — Drive down Broadway in Everett and it would be hard to miss the newest addition to the Brown Bear Car Wash.

The owners of the car wash at 3511 Broadway just installed a 2-ton bronze grizzly bear sculpture.

The Everett business already has a mama bear with three cubs nea

rby. It’s part of the company’s strategy of beautifying its car washes — and calling attention to them, said Steve Palmer, the chief financial officer for Car Wash Enterprises, the company that owns Brown Bear.

“We like putting these at our sites,” Palmer said. “We consider it a work of art.”

The company was started in Seattle in 1957 by Victor Odermat and has since expanded to more than 40 locations in Washington. Everett’s location opened in 1972.

Odermat, an Alaskan native, originally considered putting a life-sized stuffed bear at every location but jettisoned that idea in favor of sculptures, Palmer said.

All of its locations have the statue of the family group of bears. Only a few have the giant towering grizzly Everett just received, including the company’s corporate office in Seattle.

A few years ago Brown Bear started offering customers free car washes one day a year as a “thank you” for solving a crime involving bear statues.

Thieves stole some bronze bear statues from the company’s Fife warehouse to sell for scrap. The company leadership was so touched by tips from customers who helped find the culprits, they started the free car wash day, Palmer said.

Friday the Everett bear was still in its wrappings while workers installed a rockery around the base of the beast.

The bear is a cast from a sculpture created by artist Lorenzo Ghiglieri. The company declined to say how much the bear cost.

The bear is more than 12 feet tall and weighs at least 4,000 pounds. “It’s been a great conversation piece,” Palmer said. “I do believe its translated into greater customer loyalty. But that kind of thing is hard to quantify.”

Reporter Debra Smith: 425-339-3197 or dsmith@heraldnet.com.