Cybertrucks and lake draining. Two April Fool’s Day media spoofs catch more than a few people by surprise

By QUINTON SMITH/Lincoln Chronicle

No, they did not drain Devils Lake in Lincoln City on Tuesday.

No, Lincoln County commissioners did not vote unanimously to spend $177 million to replace the county fleet with 1,400 Tesla Cybertrucks.

But apparently more than a few people fell this week for some April 1 Tomfoolery.

Read carefully folks. This is intended as a humorous account of two April Fool’s Day spoofs by two local media organizations – yes, some still do it — that fooled a few folks.

Their stories – one a long-held tradition — are not true. This account is.

First, the most outrageous spoof resulted in a handful of angry calls and emails to county offices.

The Lincoln City Homepage, an online sort-of-news outfit run by former Lincoln City mayor and frequent county critic Don Williams posted a story and creative photo announcing the county’s purchase of the Cybertrucks. The five-paragraph missive was clearly labeled as a parody.

Still, it spurred three phone calls and two emails of outrage to the county, said county spokesman Ken Lipp.

“Why in the world would you replace cars with Tesla swastika cars?” wrote a woman named Rhonda. (We’re only using her first name to spare her the embarrassment.) “You can bet my family and I will no longer spend money in your county!! We will drive right on through! Is there a Republican in charge?”

Lipp – who admits he had to be careful with his response – wrote this reply.

“Hello, Rhonda, Lincoln County is not replacing its vehicles with Teslas. The post on Lincoln City Homepage was an April Fool’s joke. You’re not the only one to contact us regarding this parody.”

The (not) draining of Devils Lake

The second story is also not true – but had a few more far-reaching but still mostly humorous consequences.

For 21 years the owners of Oregon Coast TODAY, which is an entertainment and event publication headquartered in Lincoln City, have published an April Fool’s story. They’ve spoofed about a gray whale living in the Salmon River estuary and the opportunity to feed it, Depoe Bay filling in its Spouting Horn with concrete, and the North Lincoln Fire & Rescue District buying two elephants to act as tsunami monitors.

In 2009, TODAY’s then-publisher Dave Price, now a bigwig at Oregon Coast Community College, wrote an April Fool’s Day story about the draining of Devils Lake. On Tuesday, TODAY published Price’s updated version of the lake-draining story, splashing a photo of Devils Lake Water Improvement District manager Boone Marker on its cover and launched into a long story about how the district was draining the lake Tuesday so it could scoop up invasive carp.

“Next Tuesday morning, April 1, Marker will travel down to the main inflow and outflow control room of the man-made lake,” the story said. “At 10 a.m., he’ll turn a valve and the show will begin in earnest. ‘We generally do this on Tuesdays, historically,’ Marker said. ‘We try to avoid ruining anyone’s weekend.’ ”

That brought more than a few people – including a man who drove over from Dallas — to watch the event.

One of those was Ciara Pressler of Portland, a former actor and now business adviser, who was visiting the coast and stayed an extra day to see the lake drain. But she was so taken by the joke that she taped a television reporter-like spoof of the spoof, giving a lakeside report, talking to the man from Dallas, and then storming TODAY’s offices to confront (it was set up first) publisher Patrick Alexander.

“I played along,” Alexander told the Lincoln Chronicle.

Her report is now on Facebook and YouTube.

Alexander explains that the publication always asks permission to use a business, local government or organization in its spoof. The water district even posted TODAY’s story on its website.

“It minimizes nasty surprises for anyone,” he said.

Alexander believes 80 percent of readers immediately recognize the spoof and 15 percent get it once they read the whole story. The remaining 5 percent?

“Oh, they just get cross,” he said.

Will this Tomfoolery continue?

“Oh absolutely,” Alexander promised. “They’re so much fun. Our longtime readers enjoy and look forward to them.”