(Cameron Sheppard/Sound Publishing)

(Cameron Sheppard/Sound Publishing)

Boom! Seahawks drum finds new home in Renton | Photos

500-pound bass drum shipped from Lumen Field to the Renton History Museum.

The massive bass drum that boomed and bellowed across the Seahawks’ stadium during the peak of the Legion of Boom era was recently donated the Renton History Museum to be celebrated and remembered as a token of the best venues and environments to enjoy a football game anywhere in the country.

On Nov. 9, the roughly 500-pound bass drum was put on a flatbed truck and shipped from Lumen Field to the Renton History Museum, 235 Mill Ave. S. When it arrived in the back alleyway behind the museum, a crew of nearly one dozen Seattle Seahawks staff worked together to hoist it down from the flatbed and onto its specially-designed wheeling base.

Keith Rousu, director of the Blue Thunder marching band, was there to oversee the handover of the drum that he helped advocate for as a unique feature of the Seattle Seahawks game day through an era of their franchise’s best years.

After being beat on by celebrity guests and local musicians alike, the drum was retired around 2016, and no longer has a place in the stadium after renovations to the venue erased its almost ceremonial space in the stadium, Rousu said.

Administrators of the Renton History Museum and local leaders came to see the daunting size of the drum in person. Rousu gave the drum one last beat with his hand, and the bassy vibrations boomed throughout the space of the museum.

Rousu explained to Renton Mayor Armondo Pavone that if you stand about three-and-a-half feet in front of the drum, you can feel its sound vibrations radiate through your body.

Cameron Sheppard/Sound Publishing
The crew celebrates the bass drum’s new home in the Renton History Museum.

Cameron Sheppard/Sound Publishing The crew celebrates the bass drum’s new home in the Renton History Museum.

The Blue Thunder bass drum arrives on the bed of a flatbed truck. (Cameron Sheppard/Sound Publishing)

The Blue Thunder bass drum arrives on the bed of a flatbed truck. (Cameron Sheppard/Sound Publishing)

(Cameron Sheppard/Sound Publishing)

(Cameron Sheppard/Sound Publishing)




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The bass drum is wheeled into the Renton History Museum. (Cameron Sheppard/Sound Publishing)

The bass drum is wheeled into the Renton History Museum. (Cameron Sheppard/Sound Publishing)

(Cameron Sheppard/Sound Publishing)

The bass drum is wheeled into the Renton History Museum. (Cameron Sheppard/Sound Publishing)

A whole crew of Seattle Seahawks staff were needed to lift the drum. (Cameron Sheppard/Sound Publishing)

A whole crew of Seattle Seahawks staff were needed to lift the drum. (Cameron Sheppard/Sound Publishing)

One of the staff who helped lift the drum celebrates being done with the hardest part of the move. (Cameron Sheppard/Sound Publishing)

One of the staff who helped lift the drum celebrates being done with the hardest part of the move. (Cameron Sheppard/Sound Publishing)

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