Big Things: Why? Why a bison in Earlton?

You name it, some town has created an oversized version of it and mounted it near the highway to lure tourists: moose, beavers, apples, tomatoes, spaceships, Muskoka chairs, dinosaurs, farm animals, Inuksuit, sports equipment, bison, and fish. So many fish.

Big Things, aka roadside attractions, have always intrigued me because they raise the question “Why?” Why is there a bison in Earlton, Ont. – a place not known for the roaming prairie beasts? Why a giant red paperclip in Kipling, Sask.? Why a sea serpent in Kelowna, B.C.?

On the surface, the reason for many Big Things is obvious – they duly represent an economic activity or tradition or entertainment prevalent in that area. Hence the lake trout, muskellunges, walleye, and other assorted fish that pepper northern Ontario. And the polar bear in Cochrane, Ont., where the Polar Bear Express train leaves for Moosonee, even though polar bears are never seen in Cochrane and only rarely in Moosonee.

David Yanciw, who runs the BigThings.ca list of Canada’s whimsical roadside attractions, explained their attraction in a CBC News interview.  

“You’re just drawn to larger-than-life things,” Yanciw explained, likening it to a preference for a movie theatre presentation of a show, instead of television. “Why? Because it’s larger than life.”

But what’s the deeper meaning of these larger-than-life sculptures? Why do towns and crossroads feel compelled to declare to the world what they’re all about? Is it simply a crass attempt to lure visitors to spend money locally? Or is there something deeper at play?

We contemplated these questions as we drove from Ottawa, Ontario to Kelowna, British Columbia. If a Big Thing wasn’t too far off our route, we detoured to see it. Northern Ontario offers many Big Things – my theory is they exist because there’s not much else to see, especially along Hwy 11 where you’ll find Cochrane’s polar bear, Moonbeam’s flying saucer, and Beardmore’s snowman.

But let’s back up a step first and ask: what’s the definition of a Big Thing? I couldn’t find a clear explanation, even on Yanciw’s website. Wikipedia’s list of Australian Big Things describes them as “a loosely related set of large structures, some of which are novelty architecture and some are sculptures.”

However, there seems to be general consensus that a “roadside attraction” is something meant to attract tourists, located along the way to somewhere else.  

“Comically bad and appropriately out-of-scale, roadside attractions express our shared desire for a larger than life purpose, a collective identity, a national mythology, an American story,” said one posting about roadside attractions. “The American landscape is littered with objects both strange and banal, yet even the most ordinary object can hold a hidden story. What is it? What was its purpose? Who built it? What happened to it?” 

While there may not be a precise definition of a Big Thing, people seem to know intuitively what they are.

Or do they?

When you peruse BigThings.ca, you find many objects that I personally do not consider Big Things. The moose in Temagami, for example, is smaller than life. We drove past it, not even recognizing that that was the Big Thing until I checked against an online photo. And Kirkland Lake’s monument to mine workers who’ve lost their lives is beautifully done, but it’s not a Big Thing.

I generally don’t count people as Big Things, simply because they’re not ‘things’ and because there are so many statues of people anyhow. However, I accept that some Big Things include non-realistic people, such as Redvers, Sask.’s Mountie on a horse.

Another point: simply putting a car up on a tall pole or an 18-wheeler on a roof does not qualify them as Big Things. They’re not larger than life – they’re just higher than life. And an airplane on a tall pole isn’t even higher than life. Likewise, pinning shoes or bras to trees does not qualify. Sorry, Large Roadside Attractions of Canada – I nix some of your Big Things.

After considerable thought, I devised my definition. A Big Thing is a larger-than-life piece of sculpture or structure, often an animal or object but not realistic people, with a high kitschy-folk-art factor, that conveys a sense of fun or wonder or representation of an area.

While most Big Things are simply big, many claim to be the largest, highest, longest, widest or whatever other superlative that makes them stand above the rest of its kind. Wikipedia has a list of all the verified objects that are the “World’s Largest,” including some in Canada.

“They were made to be marveled at, made to be measured,” wrote Keith Eggener in his article “Size Matters: Small Towns with Big Things.” “Largest things defy nature and transcend limits. They show what is possible and what it might take to push possibility beyond its existing boundaries. As the grandest exemplars of their kind, they are targets for competitive spirits, subjects of debate, records waiting to be broken.”

However, after seeing all that we did, I concluded that most of Canada’s Big Things are not necessarily vying for a grandiose title. They don’t necessarily want to set a Guinness World Record, although I suppose those towns would be pleased if it happened.

One of our favourite Corner Gas television shows (Season 1, Episode 6) is when the small Saskatchewan town supports Hank’s idea to attract tourists to spend money in Dog River by building the World’s Biggest Hoe. No one wants to tell Fitzy’s grandmother, who suggested the hoe since it represented their agricultural heritage, why they shouldn’t build a big dirty ho.

Do Big Things, in fact, lure tourists to spend money locally? That’s hard to say.

Earlton’s bison sculpture was commissioned by the nearby Bisons du Nord bison ranch. So the answer to the question of ‘Why?’ is clearly “Advertising.” However, I doubt that all the people who stop by the bison to take photos then bother to find out where the ranch is and buy bison meat. We didn’t.

“In fact, most such attractions have had relatively little economic impact upon their communities, despite the sometimes surprisingly high costs required to build and maintain them,” wrote Eggener. 

Are Big Things considered art?

The Roadside Attractions website includes Ottawa’s Maman sculpture of a giant spider, which greets visitors to the National Gallery of Canada. Certainly the spider is larger than life, but it’s not kitschy at all; it was also not placed there to attract people to Ottawa.

“Many of the big things are considered works of folk art and have been heritage-listed, though others have come under threat of demolition,” noted Australia’s website.

Maman and her ilk are more high art, created by serious artists, rather than folk art, created by ordinary people.  

Then again, perhaps the Big Things creators consider their work to be high art. Who’s to say?

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How do the locals feel about that Big Thing in town?

“Largest things in small towns, particularly as seen today, more frequently suggest furtive hope, irreversible decline, or both,” said Eggener.

“When queried about their towns’ most celebrated attractions, the people interviewed for World’s Largest [a video] express a wide range of responses: delight, skepticism, outrage. Pride is hardly universal; some see these things as an embarrassment or a waste of money…. Yet many others voice the belief — the hope — that these things will speak of local history, represent the unique qualities of a beloved place, attract tourists and money, and contribute to revitalization efforts.”

When businessman Al Turcott first raised the idea of erecting a big Canada goose in 1960 to commemorate the Trans Canada Highway, the good people of Wawa laughed. However, Turcott persisted, threw in his own money, the goose went up and, when it needed repairs just a few years later, people had been convinced it was worthwhile. The town paid for the replacement.

Some observations:

• No towns that I know of have Big Things that are rocks, trees or water – the predominant wayside view in much of Canada.
• Big Things are made of various materials: fibreglass, plaster, wood, concrete, metal, plastic.
• Most Big Things are in small rural towns.
• While some giant fruits serve as fruit stands, most Big Things have no functional purpose, other than to attract attention.

I was sad to miss the big Red Paper Clip in Kipling, Sask., simply because I’m a writer and love office supplies of any kind. But that Big Thing also has a complicated history, resulting in Kipling entering the Guinness Book of World Records.

I leave you with a fun video of western Canadian Big Things, set to the song “Giants of the Prairies” by the Canadian polka band the Kubasonics. And a lot of big fish.

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