Clinton shop joins islandwide art project to spotlight endangered orcas
A life-sized dorsal fin has gone up at Madrona Supply Co. in Clinton, part of a 75-fin Orca Action Month effort to put southern resident orcas in everyday view.
Madrona Supply Co. in Clinton has joined an islandwide art project that turned storefront traffic into a reminder about the southern resident orcas. Inside the South Whidbey shop, visitors found a life-sized dorsal fin installed as part of a larger Orca Action Month effort that put 75 fins on display across the Salish Sea region and beyond.
The Clinton stop fit a business that has long played a community role on the ferry-port side of Whidbey Island. Madrona Supply Co. said it has been in business since 2015, and the building it occupies has stood since 1950, when it opened as a family-owned hardware store. That history made it a natural host for a project built to catch the eye of both regular customers and people just passing through town.
Orca Behavior Institute organized the monthlong display for June 1 through June 30, 2026, and said each fin carried a QR code linking to whale information. The fins were made from a wide mix of materials, including wood, paint, cardboard, glass, metal and fabric, and dozens of people donated time, supplies and display space to pull the project off. Organizers also encouraged the public to look for the fins, share photos with #OBIArtForOrcas and even make more of them.
The art project landed at a moment when the southern residents remain one of the region’s most visible conservation concerns. The whales, made up of J Pod, K Pod and L Pod, were listed as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act in 2005, and Washington listed them as endangered in 2004. Washington state’s 2024 periodic status review said the population continued to shrink, while the Center for Whale Research reported 74 whales in its July 2025 census. Earlier 2024 reporting had the count down from 75 to 73 after three deaths and one birth.
By placing a dorsal fin in a Clinton storefront, the project pushed that shrinking population into an ordinary retail setting where it could meet shoppers, commuters and ferry riders without a lecture or a formal exhibit. OBI framed the effort as a way to move the story of the southern residents to the center of Orca Action Month and to spark the bolder action the whales still need to recover.
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