WORLD LARGEST TOILET, located in Cottonville, take exit 155A! You won’t believe your eyes! ZOMG!!!111
What is up with completely tacky tourist attractions in rural areas? I see them in the city and suburbs too, but not as many as I see out in the “country”. Is there any reason why such tacky places and things, are placed mostly in rural areas?
At first I was thinking that businesses are just going by the stereotype that rural people are uncultured…but these places seem to be marketed to travelers and not the rural locals, since the advertisements are placed on interstates.
I’m not so sure that this is strictly a rural phenomenon.
Ever been to Hollywood? It makes a Spencer Gifts store look like the Louvre.
If you give car-driving tourists half an excuse to stop, they’ll use your bathrooms and buy a soda. If you give them something kitchy or goofy, they’ll either crack a smile and buy a postcard to share the fun with the folks back home, or they’ll feel superior and buy the postcard to share the ‘can you believe some people’ with the folks back home.
I’ve filled up gas at the station across the highway from the world’s largest collection of hubcaps.
Good times…
Quite true – the locals have their fun laughing at the city slickers who drove here and paid money to see the tacky item.
From Minnesota, where we have the World’s Largest Twine Ball in the little rural town of Darwin.
I wonder if a town claims to have the largest number of hicks to bring in the tourists. Perhaps the largest number of pretentious snobs, but only during the tourist season.
My choice for dumbest place in Wisconsin is Rock In The House.
And here is a song about it.
Hey, last time I went to an Indy car race… I had to drive about 18 miles out of my way with the single-minded purpose of acquiring a t-shirt from Big Bone Lick State Park, which is conveniently located near Beaver Lick, Kentucky.
That’s why. So they sell more t-shirts.
I didn’t give a damn about whatever kitschy tourist traps they had there; I just wanted a t-shirt that said “Big Bone Lick”.
WHY?
Because we LOVE them!
I am actually planning a road trip with the intention of stopping at the most, the biggest, the outrageous-es, place I can find!
If you build it, they will squat.
Well, what do you WANT when you’re driving cross-country. Docent-led tours? Historical reenactments? Hell, no! You want a place where the kids can run around for a few minutes, you can use the restroom and you can get a cheap souvenir to commemorate your stop.
It’s the same reason why McDonalds has play yards and Happy Meals instead of a kindly old lady on hand to read stories to your kids.