The Big Apple | |
---|---|
General information | |
Location | Colborne, Ontario, Canada |
Completed | 1987 |
Height | 12.1 m (40 ft) |
The Big Apple is a roadside attraction in Colborne, a village in the municipality of Cramahe, in Northumberland County, Ontario, Canada. Located on the south side of Ontario Highway 401 at interchange 497 (Northumberland County Road 25/Percy Street), it is easily recognizable from the highway by its large apple-shaped structure, claimed to be the world's largest.
The Big Apple was conceived by George Boycott, an Australian immigrant to Canada who took inspiration from the Big Pineapple in Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland. [1] [2] Boycott sold the six pizza shops he owned in Australia and moved to Colborne in 1976, [2] the village being one of the largest apple-producing areas in Ontario. [3] Boycott sold real estate in Ontario to fund the construction of the Big Apple. [2] In 1983 he met Henry Mensen, a local builder, with whom Boycott planned the construction of the Big Apple over the next five years. [2]
The Big Apple opened in 1987, with its construction costs covered through a combination of a government loan and investment by Doug Rutherford, the owner of a local trucking company. [1] [2] Boycott sold his stake in the Big Apple in 1992, and began to pursue a career in real estate and local politics; he served in several government positions over the subsequent fourteen years, including as the final reeve of Colborne prior to its amalgamation with Cramahe in 2001. [2]
In 2013, a cartoon face was painted on the Big Apple. [4] In April 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario, the Big Apple donated hundreds of apple pies to hospital workers. [5] In July 2020, a face mask was hung on the Big Apple in a show of support for front-line workers. [4]
The primary attraction of the Big Apple is the eponymous Big Apple, a 12.1 m (40 ft) tall, 11.5 m (38 ft) wide apple-shaped structure [4] named "Mr. Applehead". [1] The Big Apple claims to be the largest apple-shaped structure in the world. [3] The structure contains apple-based trivia in its interior, and an observation deck on its roof. [2] The structure weighs 42 tonnes, and can purportedly hold 650,000 apples. [4]
In addition to the apple structure, the Big Apple contains a dine-in restaurant, a pie factory, a souvenir store, a petting zoo, an amusement park (for small children), a miniature golf course, and an outdoor picnic area. [1] The Big Apple hosts more than 500,000 visitors per year [6] and sells 2,000 pies per week, and has sold over 7.9 million pies since its initial opening.
Port Colborne is a city in Ontario, Canada that is located on Lake Erie, at the southern end of the Welland Canal, in the Niagara Region of Southern Ontario. The original settlement, known as Gravelly Bay, dates from 1832 and was renamed after Sir John Colborne, a British war hero and the Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada at the time of the opening of the (new) southern terminus of the First Welland Canal in 1833. The city's population in 2021 was 20,033.
Port Hope is a municipality in Southern Ontario, Canada, approximately 109 km (68 mi) east of Toronto and about 159 km (99 mi) west of Kingston. It is located at the mouth of the Ganaraska River on the north shore of Lake Ontario, in the west end of Northumberland County. The private Trinity College School opened here in 1868.
The Regional Municipality of Durham, informally referred to as Durham Region, is a regional municipality in Southern Ontario, Canada. Located east of Toronto and the Regional Municipality of York, Durham forms the east-end of the Greater Toronto Area and part of the Golden Horseshoe region. It has an area of approximately 2,500 km2 (970 sq mi). The regional government is headquartered in Whitby.
Brighton is a town in Northumberland County, Ontario, Canada, approximately 150 kilometres (93 mi) east of Toronto and 100 km (62 mi) west of Kingston. It is traversed by both Highway 401 and the former Highway 2. The west end of the Murray Canal that leads east to the Bay of Quinte is at the east end of the town.
Loblaw Companies Limited is a Canadian retailer encompassing corporate and franchise supermarkets operating under 22 regional and market-segment banners, as well as pharmacies, banking and apparel. Loblaw operates a private label program that includes grocery and household items, clothing, baby products, pharmaceuticals, cellular phones, general merchandise and financial services. Loblaw is the largest Canadian food retailer, and its brands include President's Choice, No Name and Joe Fresh. It is controlled by George Weston Limited, a holding company controlled by the Weston family; Galen G. Weston is the chair of the Loblaw board of directors, as well as chair of the board of directors and CEO of Canada-based holding company George Weston.
York is a district and former city within Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located northwest of Old Toronto, southwest of North York and east of the Humber River.
Prince Edward—Hastings was a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that existed in the House of Commons of Canada from 1968 to 2015. Its population in 2006 was 113,227. It was redistributed between Bay of Quinte electoral district and Hastings—Lennox and Addington electoral district as a result of the Canadian federal electoral redistribution, 2012.
King's Highway 3, commonly referred to as Highway 3, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario which travels parallel to the northern shoreline of Lake Erie. It has three segments, the first of which travels from the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor to Highway 77 in Leamington. The second portion begins at Talbotville Royal outside of St. Thomas at Highway 4, and travels to the western city limits of Port Colborne. The road is regionally maintained within Port Colborne as Niagara Regional Road 3, but regains its provincial designation at Highway 140. Its third and final terminus is at Edgewood Park, within the Fort Erie town limits. From there, the road continues as Niagara Regional Road 3 to the Peace Bridge, where drivers can cross to the United States. The total length of Highway 3 is 258.2 km (160.4 mi), consisting of 49.2 km (30.6 mi) from Windsor to Leamington, 187.9 km (116.8 mi) from Talbotville Royal to Port Colborne and 21.1 km (13.1 mi) from Port Colborne to Edgewood Park.
The Brighton Applefest was created in 1975 by the merchants of Brighton, Ontario, Canada to promote the Brighton area, and the apple-based culture around it. It is now Brighton's largest yearly event, taking place annually during the last week of September, and can draw up to 30,000 visitors. The attendance at the 2011 festival, which did not feature the typical car show, was estimated at 20,000.
Canadian cuisine consists of the cooking traditions and practices of Canada, with regional variances around the country. First Nations and Inuit have practiced their culinary traditions in what is now Canada for at least 15,000 years. The advent of European explorers and settlers, first on the east coast and then throughout the wider territories of New France, British North America and Canada, saw the melding of foreign recipes, cooking techniques, and ingredients with indigenous flora and fauna. Modern Canadian cuisine has maintained this dedication to local ingredients and terroir, as exemplified in the naming of specific ingredients based on their locale, such as Malpeque oysters or Alberta beef. Accordingly, Canadian cuisine privileges the quality of ingredients and regionality, and may be broadly defined as a national tradition of "creole" culinary practices, based on the complex multicultural and geographically diverse nature of both historical and contemporary Canadian society.
A butter tart is a type of small pastry tart highly regarded in Canadian cuisine. The sweet tart consists of a filling of butter, sugar, syrup, and egg, baked in a pastry shell until the filling is semi-solid with a crunchy top. The butter tart should not be confused with butter pie or with bread and butter pudding.
The Warkworth Institution is a medium-security prison facility located in the municipality of Trent Hills, Ontario, between the communities of Meyersburg and Warkworth. The prison is the largest federal correctional institution in Canada with a population of approximately 625 housed in five units.
The Township of Alnwick/Haldimand is a township in central Ontario, Canada, in Northumberland County, situated between Lake Ontario and Rice Lake. It was formed in 2001 by the merger of Alnwick Township in the north and Haldimand Township in the south. Alderville First Nation is an autonomously governed First Nation contained within the township boundaries, in two non-contiguous sections along County Roads 45 and 18.
Novelty architecture, also called programmatic architecture or mimetic architecture, is a type of architecture in which buildings and other structures are given unusual shapes for purposes such as advertising or to copy other famous buildings without any intention of being authentic. Their size and novelty means that they often serve as landmarks. They are distinct from architectural follies, in that novelty architecture is essentially usable buildings in eccentric form whereas follies are non-usable, purely ornamental buildings also often in eccentric form.
Cramahe is a rural township located in Northumberland County in southern Ontario, Canada. It is situated just off Ontario Highway 401 approximately 140 km East of Toronto. It was named for Hector Theophilus de Cramahé, who was Lieutenant-Governor of the Province of Quebec. The township's seat and largest town is Colborne.
Stirling-Rawdon is a township in the Canadian province of Ontario, located in Hastings County. It was formed on January 1, 1998, through the amalgamation of Rawdon Township with the Village of Stirling. Stirling was named the 2012 Kraft Hockeyville winner, after gaining more than 3.9 million votes.
The architecture of Toronto is an eclectic combination of architectural styles, ranging from 19th century Georgian architecture to 21st century postmodern architecture and beyond.
Augustus Jones was a North American-born Upper Canadian farmer, land speculator, magistrate, militia captain and surveyor. Jones trained as a surveyor in New York City, and fled as a United Empire Loyalist to Upper Canada. In Upper Canada, he worked as a crown surveyor in the Nassau District, where he quickly rose to the position of Deputy Surveyor General, the highest position in a district of Upper Canada. He occupied that position from 1789 informally, and 1791 formally, until his retirement in 1799. During that time he laid down many of the township boundaries in the Niagara Peninsula and on the north shore of Lake Ontario. He led various teams that cut many of the first sideroads and concession roads into these areas, facilitating their settlement by European and American immigrants. Jones also surveyed the routes for Dundas Street and Yonge Street, and supervised their construction. After his retirement, Jones farmed first in Saltfleet Township, later moving to Brantford and finally an estate outside Paris named Cold Springs, where he died in 1836.
The Murray Marsh, also known as the Big Murray Swamp, is an ecologically important wetland on the Trent River in Northumberland County, Ontario, Canada. At 4850 hectares, this is the largest expanse of unspoiled wetland in southeastern Ontario.