One attraction I’ve longed to see during several trips to Lucas – but haven’t yet caught up with – is a traveling museum featuring “The World’s Largest Collection of the World’s Smallest Versions of the World’s Largest Things.”
I’ll give you a moment to absorb that properly.
It’s a clever idea – by an artist and free spirit named Erika Nelson who moved to Lucas, next to the Garden of Eden. She drives her museum (inside a van) to kitschy roadside attractions, often in little towns that overcompensate for their littleness by producing a LARGE version of something or other that, with hope, puts the town on the map. Then she makes small versions of these large things and exhibits them in her van, err museum.
Nelson has also compiled a state-by-state list of the world’s largest things and I’m pleased to report that I’ve seen several including the World’s Largest Swedish Coffeepot and Cup in the small Iowa town of Stanton (which doubles as a water tower); the World’s Largest Ball of Twine in Cawker City, Ks. (although this claim is disputed by Minnesota twine-ballers) and the World’s Largest Tire near the Detroit airport (a highlight of my Michigan youth). There is a larger point – that these quirky things make these towns and cities distinctive and, as such, should be celebrated. (Nelson is into “combating genericana” i.e. all the generic fast food restaurants and chain stores you see in one town after another that makes them all seem the same.) Check out the list at – www.worldslargestthings.com/wllist.htm
One final (as if) note about Lucas: this is the only place where I eagerly look forward to eating baloney – in this case homemade Czech bologna made at Brant’s Meat Market, an 85-year-old store on Lucas’ tiny main drag. The beef jerky is good too!
TakeBetsywithyou 