Highway Lanes to Close Saturday as Eureka Honors Duane Flatmo With Flaming Octopus Celebration

Collage of features from event poster below.

Drivers passing through downtown Eureka Saturday evening may find themselves slowed not by a traffic accident or construction project, but by a giant fire-breathing octopus.

The California Highway Patrol is advising travelers that two lanes of both Fourth Street and Fifth Street (U.S. Highway 101) will be closed from 6:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, June 13, for a public celebration honoring longtime Humboldt artist Duane Flatmo.

Traffic is expected to move slowly through the area as the City of Eureka officially dedicates “Duane Flatmo Alley,” naming the alley beside the Arkley Center for the Performing Arts after the artist whose murals, kinetic sculptures, art cars and whimsy (the egg beating guitar playing is amazing!) have become woven into the fabric of Humboldt County.

The public celebration is scheduled from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. in the F Street parking lot between Fourth and Fifth streets. Food trucks will be on site, and Flatmo’s famous creation, El Pulpo Magnifico, a towering, 30-foot-tall flame-throwing octopus, is expected to make an appearance.

For anyone unfamiliar with Flatmo’s work, El Pulpo Magnifico serves as a fitting introduction.

The giant kinetic sculpture shoots flames into the sky, wiggles its tentacles and stares down spectators with bulging mechanical eyes. Built as the successor to Flatmo’s earlier octopus creation, El Pulpo Mecanico, the metal beast debuted at Burning Man in 2022 and has since appeared at festivals and events across the West Coast.

But while the octopus may be his most spectacular creation, Flatmo’s impact on Humboldt stretches back decades.

His first major mural was painted in Eureka in 1984 (the Bucksport mural). Since then, he has created many of the large-scale public artworks that locals pass every day, including murals at the North Coast Co-op, Los Bagels, Pacific Outfitters, Willow Creek Ace Hardware and the massive, beautiful mural covering the facade of the Arkley Center itself.

Generations of Humboldt residents also know Flatmo from the Kinetic Grand Championship, where his imaginative human-powered sculptures became legendary. Over more than three decades, he built dozens of kinetic entries that helped define one of Humboldt County’s most distinctive traditions.

The alley dedication comes at a particularly meaningful moment.

When Flatmo shared the event announcement on Facebook on May 28, he revealed that he had recently received difficult health news and hoped the gathering would offer a chance to connect with the community.

“Some of you might know already that I have been given some troubling health news and would love to see friends and families so we can share our memories of good times together,” he wrote.

For many in Humboldt, Saturday’s celebration is expected to be more than a street naming ceremony. It will be an opportunity to honor an artist whose work has colored the county’s walls, brightened its streets, fueled its festivals and, occasionally, set the tentacles of a giant, mechanical octopus ablaze.

CHP is asking motorists to plan ahead, use alternate routes if possible, and exercise caution while traveling through downtown Eureka during the event.