Telephone of the Wind project finds permanent home in Olympia’s Priest Point Park
An old rotary phone with a connection to nowhere and everywhere has found its way back to Priest Point Park.
The Telephone of the Wind, originally installed in the park by Corey Dembeck in November 2020, was recently reinstalled as a permanent fixture in the park. Inspired by a similar project in Otsuchi, Japan, the phone is not connected to any network but serves as a tool for grieving people yearning to connect with their departed loved ones, or for anyone needing someone to talk to.
The phone in Otsuchi sits in a glass booth on a hill overlooking the ocean. It was installed in 2010 by Itaru Sasaki, who put up the phone after the death of a cousin. The one in Priest Point Park was installed after the death of 4-year-old Joelle Rose Sylvester, a friend of Dembeck’s daughter.
The Olympian initially wrote about the telephone last January, but the project has captured the attention of the country, most recently on CBS Sunday Morning, and in an earlier video posted by Seattle Refined.
The installation was made permanent through the support of Olympia’s Parks, Arts and Recreation Department, and it’s located in the original site with an established user trail in the southeast area of the park, according to a city news release.
The park is at 2600 East Bay Drive NE. The closest parking to get to the phone is near the rose garden.
