World's Largest Mallard

September 22, 2009 - Wheaton, MN



After we stopped in Starbuck for the giant hobo, we made our way to Wheaton to see the World's Largest Mallard. The statue stands 26 feet tall and depicts a mallard taking flight from a stand of cattails. It also has the county name, Traverse, around the base and some other words that I don't remember encircling the base; looks like "Living", "Farming", and something else. The statue was designed by Robert Bruns using "a paperweight, a Grain Belt Beer ad, and a dime store statue" as models. It was constructed out of concrete in 1959 by Elmer Oslon. The statue is showing it's age a bit.

The World's Largest Mallard has helped to cement (pun intended) this region of the state as the Land O' Ducks. Unlike much of the state, this part of Minnesota doesn't have a lot o' lakes but does have plenty o' ducks.

The Giant Hobo

September 22, 2009 - Starbuck, MN



Ok, it's time to get back to this blog thinger and finally get caught up. We got very busy buying a house and moving into that house and settling into that house and because of that and other fun grown-up stuff like figuring out insurance policies and retirement accounts, I haven't had much time to post. Like I mentioned in the last post, we now live in Plymouth, MN.

Way back in September we went on a western Minnesota big stuff loop. The first stop on this loop was in Starbuck. We didn't waste our time stopping for the buck with a star in it's antlers (I'm not kidding) or the site marking where the world's largest lefse was made. The lefse isn't there, because they ate it back in 1983, but the rolling pin they used is.

The giant hobo stands in Hobo Park. In the 1930s during the Great Depression many men would ride the freight trains and stop in Starbuck for a few days or weeks looking for work or food from the locals. At night they would gather near this spot along Lake Minnewaska. Before long they would hop on another freight train and move on, like any respectable hobo would. They left behind shorthand signs informing other hobos where they could find work or food or other helpful information.

Big Fish Update

I just received an update from the Fans of the Big Fish Facebook page that the Big Fish Supper Club is reopening this Friday, November 6th. It will be open 7 days a week from 3 pm to 10 pm. So if you're near Bena, MN then you should stop in.


Just to give everyone an update on the blog... I have been super, super busy lately and have had no time to post. We do have more stuff to post. I think we have 4 more big stuffs that are in the "queue" so to speak. Also, The Big Stuff Project will be moving it's base of operations from Bloomington to Plymouth this month.

Happy Chef

August 16, 2009 - Mankato, MN



The Happy Chef restaurant in Mankato was the very first Happy Chef. It opened in 1963. At one point the Happy Chef chain grew to 56 restaurants in the Midwest. Today only 16 restaurants remain.

The giant Happy Chef statue was, and still is, an icon for the restaurants. Most of the restaurants had one. But, as I chronicled before, these statues are disappearing. The Mankato restaurant is the only one that still has a statue. Restaurant owners were instructed to destroy the statues rather than sell them, but some managed to survive. Regardless, the Happy Chef statue in any form is a rare commodity.

Jolly Green Giant & Sprout

August 16, 2009 - Blue Earth, MN



The Jolly Green Giant first appeared in the 1920's as an advertising mascot for the Blue Earth Canning Company. In 1929 the Blue Earth Canning Company became part of Minnesota Valley Canning Company in Le Sueur, MN. In 1950 they changed their name to Green Giant and merged with Pillsbury in 1979. Pillsbury was ultimately acquired by General Mills, who still owns the brand. It seems that at some point possibly six canneries were sold to Seneca Foods.

The Jolly Green Giant statue, which cost the town $43,000, was erected in 1978 in time to overlook the completion of Interstate 90 connecting Boston to Seattle. He was temporarily erected in September 1978 at a roadside rest area north of I-90 where he could watch as the interstate was completed. Miss America was there too. He was permanently put into place a mile south of the interstate on July 6, 1979. This is where he still is today.

The statue is 55 feet tall, weighs 4 tons, has a 4 foot smile and size 78 elfin slippers, and is conveniently located next to a Dairy Queen. On this day he appears ready to run in the Relay For Life... assuming he can somehow free his feet from his platform.

The idea for the statue was that of Paul Hedberg, the owner of a local radio station. He got the idea after interviewing numerous travelers for a radio program where many of them expressed an interest in seeing the Green Giant. In 1977 he contacted the Green Giant Company and with their consent and input on the design was able to have the statue built.



Outside a gas station just off of I-90 and close to the Green Giant stands this statue of Little Green Sprout. Sprout appeared in Green Giant ads beginning in 1973. This Sprout was formerly an A&W Papa Burger, which explains the root beer in his hand. I guess they decided to replace the burger with a pizza box.

Big Buffalo

August 16, 2009 - Luverne, MN



On our way out of Luverne after our super awesome camping trip we stopped at this sizable buffalo statue. It is located just a couple blocks north of the interstate. The buffalo is a little bit larger than a real buffalo and it says "Those Blasted Things" next to it. If you look closely at the picture you will see that Those Blasted Things is the name of the store behind the buffalo. It also says Minnesota Rocks & Gifts below it... so it's some sort of gift shop. That's all I really know about it.

If you pay attention while in Luverne, you will notice that the buffalo seems to be a bit of a theme. The area around Luverne is prairie and the type of place you would expect to see lots of buffalo... if we hadn't nearly killed all of them. Woops. Oddly, the school mascot is the cardinal.

World's Largest Peace Pipe

August 15, 2009 - Pipestone, MN



Pipestone... the bane of our Big Stuff existence. You see, we were in Pipestone once before. We went there for a friend's wedding in July 2003. It was about 98 degrees that day and the church lacked air conditioning and it was the full-on Catholic mass wedding ceremony. The country club did have air conditioning, though, and cheap drinks that were also very strong. All-in-all it was a fun day.

The problem was that in 2003 there was no Big Stuff Project. It was only a couple years later that my wife came up with the idea. Why is that such a big deal, you may ask yourself. Well, if you've ever been to Pipestone you know that the city of Pipestone is, in fact, not near anything at all. This is something that is easily illustrated by looking at the Big Stuff map (although I will be adding a point in Luverne, which is 24 miles from Pipestone). We really had no reason at all to go to Pipestone again and we liked it that way. But then there was the peace pipe. We had no idea when or how we were going to get that stupid peace pipe.

That's when the Big Stuff gods kinda, sort of, maybe slightly but not really smiled upon us. My youngest brother got a job in southern Minnesota and ended up moving into an apartment in Luverne. This was great. There is a state park just north of Luverne, so we thought we would pick a weekend where we could go camping and visit my brother. And this is what we did... and it turned out to be a very interesting camping trip.

We left from the Twin Cities Friday (8/14) after work. Due to our late departure and some road construction, we didn't get to the park until about 10:15 that night. We then set up our large tent, just the two of us, in the dark with two lanterns for light. We did a pretty good job. The most interesting thing was trying to partially inflate our air mattresses inside our Nissan Sentra so we wouldn't bother other people as much with our noisy electric pump. As we were getting close to being finally settled in, the people who reserved the site behind us showed up to set up their camp. It was after 11pm by then.

The next morning we woke up and it was raining. This put a damper on our plans for the morning. We sat in the tent and played some cards for a little while and then decided to try to make breakfast. It was still a little rainy and drizzly, but we managed to make eggs, pancakes, and heated up pre-cooked bacon on our camp stove.

Us 1
Nature 0

We then prepared to go hiking like we had planned, albeit later than we had hoped. It was still drizzling a little bit as we started, but that soon stopped. The air was humid but the clouds kept the sun from making it very steamy, which would have sucked, and there was a nice breeze. The weather was actually pretty nice for hiking. The rain did make certain spots on the trails kind of slick, but we weren't about to let nature ruin our enjoyment of nature..... stupid nature. The park was pretty neat (some of my pictures) and the campground was rather nice too.

Us 2
Nature 0

After hiking we ate some lunch and headed to Pipestone for the World's Largest Peace Pipe. On the way there it looked like the weather might just clear up a bit... until we got to Pipestone... where it was raining. We found the pipe and the rain let up a little bit so we snapped a few pictures and, with little to absolutely no fanfare, left Pipestone. We probably weren't really going to enjoy Pipestone anyway, so I think that's another point for us.

Us 3
Nature 0

Next we went and picked up my brother and went back to the campground. We got a fire going and made some pizza pocket sandwich things and apple pies with our pie/sandwich irons and later had some smores. During the evening we were watching the clouds. It looked like some storms were coming so we readied the campsite for a quick getaway if a sudden downpour came. There was some pretty good lightning, but that storm ended up moving north of us. The weather settled down and we had a nice night. Then at about 11:30 we brought my brother back to his apartment and we checked the radar. Wouldn't you know it, a big line of thunderstorms was headed our way. We had a decision to make. Our options were to a) go back and sleep in the tent and hope for the best, b) stay at my brother's apartment and crash there, or c) go back to the campground, tear down, and sleep on my brother's floor. We chose c, since we wanted to keep the inside of our tent dry as well as our sleeping bags, pillows, and mattresses. So now it's midnight and we do a quick tear down of the tent and leave the campground. We then enjoyed some microwaved smores before going to bed. I think nature won that round.

Us 3
Nature 1

We hold on to the lead and claim victory. Take that, nature!

About the Peace Pipe

The peace pipe, or calumet, is 30 feet long and stands outside the old Rock Island Depot near the entrance to the Pipestone National Monument. Native Americans used pipestone to make ceremonial or sacred pipes. Pipestone, or catlinite, is the second softest rock in the world and Native Americans were able to carve it for use as peace pipes. The Pipestone National Monument contains a large quarry of catlinite that is still in use today. Enrolled Native Americans are allowed to extract rock from the quarry and only use hand tools to do it.