About 2 weeks ago on the r/Cleveland sub Reddit someone posted a photo of an abandoned microwave sitting forlornly on a park bench wondering why it was there. This was followed by Day 2, Day 3, etc. as the weather changed and it became covered in snow and then melted again. I guess some hints were given and soon other people found out where it was and the fun began. It started slowly with just a simple note left on it and then a Xmas ornament. In the time since then it has ballooned. People are finding it and making pilgrimages to the blursed microwave. They are photographed kneeling in honor of the sacred appliance. More and more items are being photographed and removed (I think). Now someone has setup an abandoned slow cooker. There have been paintings and sculptures made. It’s hilarious.
There was one lonely, short pine tree on the side of the bike trail, probably ¼ mile from the nearest trailhead; I never saw them do it but someone would bring a cartful of stuff & decorate it like a tree in your living room every year - tinsel, ornaments, a star on top; sometime after Xmas they’d come back & remove everything & presumably put it away for the following year.
I took a picture of it one year & won a photo contest because of it.
Sadly, the microwave is gone as of this morning. To be fair to the city, or whoever cleaned it up, a ton of stuff did accumulate around it.
The posts on r/Cleveland were hilarious. I was keeping some friends abreast of the situation and it made me chuckle every time I listed all of the weird shit people were doing for/with Microwave.
Now there’s a new rash of posts memorializing it, and talking about all the good times we had.
That’s pretty good. In Albuquerque, the city makes a massive snowman out of collected and spray painted tumbleweeds every year and sticks it near the I-25/I-40 interchange. Not quite as cute as making an icon out of a microwave.
The iconic Christmas bow around the St. Louis planetarium started out in 1966 as a prank by students at nearby Washington University. It proved so popular that the planetarium made the bow an annual tradition.
Good news! The city of South Euclid (where the bench is located) didn’t trash Mike, they saved it and it’ll be making an appearance at their “Christmas in July” event this summer.
The Latest Word: Although the city of South Euclid removed the microwave they have promised that it will re-appear during their Xmas in July celebration this summer.
