The Giants of the Prairies are a group of "world's biggest" roadside attractions found in Western Canada, especially in small towns populated mostly by Ukrainian Canadians.
Attraction | Community | Province | Image | Date Constructed |
---|---|---|---|---|
World's Largest Badminton Racket | St. Albert | Alberta | 2000 [1] | |
World's Largest Beaver | Beaverlodge | Alberta | 2004 | |
World's Largest Bee | Falher [2] | Alberta | 1990 [3] | |
World's Largest Honey Bee | Tisdale [4] | Saskatchewan | 1993 | |
Aaron the Blue Heron [5] | Barrhead | Alberta | 1984 | |
World's Largest Border Markers | Lloydminster | Alberta and Saskatchewan | 1994 [6] | |
World's Largest Bucking Saddle Bronc and Rider, "The Legacy" | Ponoka | Alberta | 2004 [7] | |
World's Largest bunnock | Macklin | Saskatchewan | 1994 [8] | |
World's Largest Curling Rock | Arborg [9] | Manitoba | 2005 [10] | |
World's Largest Coke Can | Portage la Prairie | Manitoba | 1994 [11] | |
World's Largest Chuckwagon | Dewberry | Alberta | 1995 [12] | |
World's Largest Dinosaur | Drumheller | Alberta | 2001 | |
World's Largest Fire Hydrant | Elm Creek [13] | Manitoba | 2001 [14] | |
World's Largest Animated Grizzly Bear | Innisfail [15] | Alberta | 2013 [16] | |
Goose Statue [17] | Hanna | Alberta | ||
World's Largest Golf Tee | Trochu [18] | Alberta | 2009 [19] | |
World's Largest kielbasa | Mundare | Alberta | 2001 [20] | |
World's Largest Mallard Duck | Andrew | Alberta | 1992 [21] | |
World's Largest Mosquito | Komarno | Manitoba | ||
World's Largest Mushroom | Vilna | Alberta | ||
World's Largest Oil Can | Rocanville [22] | Saskatchewan | ||
World's Largest Oil Derrick | Redwater | Alberta | ||
World's Largest Oil Lamp | Donalda | Alberta | ||
World's Largest painting on an easel (reproduction of Van Gogh's Sunflowers) | Altona | Manitoba | 1998 | |
World's Largest Piggy Bank | Coleman | Alberta | ||
World's Largest Putter | Bow Island | Alberta | ||
World's Large Pinto Bean, "Pinto Macbean" | Bow Island | Alberta | ||
Giant Sunflower | Bow Island | Alberta | ||
Giant Prairie Crocuses | Daysland | Alberta | ||
World's Largest Softball, "Susie" | Chauvin | Alberta | ||
World's Largest Railroad Spike | Hines Creek [23] | Alberta | ||
World's Largest Sundial | Lloydminster | Alberta and Saskatchewan | ||
World's Tallest Teepee | Medicine Hat | Alberta | ||
World's Largest Wagon Wheel and Pick | Fort Assiniboine | Alberta | ||
World's Largest Western Boot | Edmonton | Alberta | ||
Giant Baseball | Edmonton | Alberta | ||
Giant Horse | Irricana | Alberta | ||
David Thompson Monument | Lac La Biche | Alberta | ||
Giant Pumpkin | Smoky Lake | Alberta | ||
World's First UFO Landing Pad | St. Paul | Alberta | ||
Giant perogy | Glendon | Alberta | ||
Giant Vegreville egg (Pysanka) | Vegreville | Alberta | 1975 | |
Giant potatoes | Vauxhall | Alberta | ||
Giant replica of the Star Trek starship USS Enterprise | Vulcan | Alberta | ||
Giant gopher | Torrington | Alberta | ||
The Happy Rock | Gladstone | Manitoba | 1993 | |
Canada's Largest Baseball Bat | Battleford [24] | Saskatchewan | ||
Canada's Largest Baseball Glove | Heisler [25] | Alberta | ||
Canada's Largest Buffalo | Wainwright | Alberta | ||
Canada's Largest Dragonfly | Wabamun [26] | Alberta | ||
World's Largest Moose, "Mac the Moose" | Moose Jaw | Saskatchewan | ||
Battle between Bear and Swan | Swan Hills | Alberta | ||
Giant Skunk, "Squirt" | Beiseker | Alberta | ||
Alberta's Largest Northern Pike | Rochon Sands | Alberta | ||
Giant Cornstalks | Taber | Alberta | ||
Giant Pinecone | St. Albert | Alberta | ||
Giant Walleye | Shaw's Point | Alberta | ||
Giant Crow | Bellevue | Alberta | ||
Giant Black Diamond | Turner Valley | Alberta | ||
World’s Largest Fishing Lure | Lacombe | Alberta | ||
Canada's Largest Turtle, "Ernie" | Turtleford | Saskatchewan | 1983 [27] |
These attractions are referenced in the Kubasonics song "Giants of the Prairies".
The phenomenon was parodied in the sixth episode of the first season of Corner Gas , "World's Biggest Thing". Wherein one of the characters proposes the construction of the "world's biggest hoe" to draw in tourism to the town of Dog River, leaving some citizens unaware of the double entendre the name elicits. [28]
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A roadside attraction is a feature along the side of a road meant to attract tourists. In general, these are places one might stop on the way to somewhere, rather than being a destination. They are frequently advertised with billboards. The modern tourist-oriented highway attraction originated as a U.S. and Canadian phenomenon in the 1940s to 1960s, and subsequently caught on in Australia.
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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.
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But perhaps the most outrageous roadside statue ever proposed was never actually built. In probably my favourite episode of the sitcom Corner Gas, a small group of civic-minded souls in fictitious Dog river, Saskatchewan, are sitting in the local diner brainstorming ideas for a new roadside attraction that will inspire drivers to stop in the little town. What's unique about Dog river? they ask each other. Well, it's a rural community, so they decide their "world's biggest thing" should be a farm implement. they discuss various options and finally settle on a hoe. But it shouldn't be a shiny, new-looking hoe, someone says. Dog river is a hardworking town, after all. It should have clumps of earth on it and look as though it's been well used. What the town needs, the mayor's grandmother concludes, is "a big dirty cracked hoe."