Lambs Farm Attempts to Beat a World Record Dog Biscuit at Woofstock 2009

For Immediate Release: May 12, 2009
Contact: Jackie Rachev, Communications Coordinator 847.990.3706 jrachev@lambsfarm.org

Lambs Farm Attempts to Beat a World Record at Woofstock 2009

Libertyville, IL - Lambs Farm's Participants and staff are baking a dog biscuit guaranteed to treat hundreds of hungry hounds. How big must this delicious treat be? In order to break the current world record, the biscuit should weigh nearly 400 pounds and measure 16 feet, and that is what Lambs Farm plans to do. The organization will unveil the world's largest dog biscuit on Saturday, June 20 at Woofstock - One Day of Puppy Love.

The agency has already applied to attempt the record-setting feat, and will submit its official results after the final weigh-in. The mammoth dog treat's recipe includes 300 pounds of flour, 50 pounds of peanut butter and 20 pounds of eggs. After the official weigh-in and photos, the biscuit will be cut up and samples will be available for all four-legged Woofstock attendees.

Lambs Farm's Woofstock is a full day dedicated to man's best friend. The free event will feature, in addition to the world's largest dog biscuit, a wide variety of vendors displaying specialty food items, toys, clothing and more; demonstrations from Cross Roads Search and Rescue, Robin's Dog Stars and Bark N Park; arts, crafts and games for both two-legged and four-legged attendees; a pet parade; and Lake County's premiere Couture Canine Fashion Show. A live band will also perform all day.

Woofstock will be held Saturday, June 20 at Lambs Farm from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and is presented by Suncast Corporation, and sponsored by Record-A-Hit Entertainment and Natural Balance. For more information on Woofstock, or to be a vendor or demonstrator, please visit www.lambsfarm.org, or contact Claudia Stevens at 847.990.3750 or crs@lambsfarm.org. Lambs Farm is a non-profit organization dedicated to empowering adults with developmental disabilities to lead personally fulfilling lives through a full range of vocational, residential, social and recreational programs. Based near Libertyville, Illinois at the intersection of Rt. 176 and I-94, Lambs Farm has assisted individuals to create their own pathways to meaningful experiences, at home and in the community, since 1961. For more information on Lambs Farm, please visit www.lambsfarm.org.

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Lucas featured in two new national publications

NEWS RELEASE:  June 17, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE PUBLICATION

CONTACT:  Erika Nelson, info@worldslargestthings.com

 

LUCAS FEATURED IN TWO NEW NATIONAL PUBLICATIONS

 

Residents sometimes forget the unique place Lucas Kansas has on the national (and international!) roadmap.  Two new publications again focus on this amazing tiny town, with a lot of print space given to local attractions and culture.

 

First, the Society for Commerical Archeology Journal Spring 2009 issue features a 2000 word article, with over a dozen full color images, examining the Garden of Eden and it's impact.  This is an academic Journal, sent out to scholars and researchers, universities and members only.  It's used as the benchmark for a specific industry, the study of the American roadside.  Articles here often find themselves used as the basis for major thesis projects, cited in additional articles, and used as a valued resource.  The article in this issue was originally produced by Erika Nelson and Jon Blumb for Raw Vision magazine, and is re-printed here in its entirety.  Not only are there 8 full color pages inside, an historic photo of the Garden is used for the cover art.

 

Second, Rare Visions and Roadside Revelations have released a new Coast to Coast Travel-O-Pedia, a 200-plus page book listing all the interesting, amazing, and offbeat sites their fan-base needs to see.  The chapters are broken up by region, and the entire Midwest section starts out with Garden of Eden photos and kudos in the second paragraph:  "The list always begins in Lucas with the Garden of Eden."  These folks LOVE Lucas, and all it has to offer.  Town sites also grace the cover, as well as the standard listings in the information section, detailing hours and type of attractions found in Lucas.  And, one of S.P. Dinsmoor's sculptures is the largest element in the cover design, pointing the way to amazing things.

 

Congratulations, Lucas, on being exactly what you are.  Please, take a moment to remember how special and amazing a town like ours is, and that we have friends across the nation.

 

 

Bacolicious a Big Tasty Success!

All enjoyed the most recent WLT project, the Bacolicious installation at the Smoky Hill River Festival (http://www.riverfestival.com/salina/)  in Salina Kansas. 

 

Using a specially-designed product called Put-In-Cups (http://www.putincups.com/shop/index.php), the oversized strips of bacon are assembled from plastic inserts in a chain-link fence.  Three pieces made it up this year, with a lot of volunteer help.  There had been plans for four, but 20 hours and numberous bleeding fingers later, we decided on the traditional serving-size of three...

 

This was a temporary display, only up through the Festival weekend (June 12 - 14), but will re-appear on the North Tennis Court fence at the next fabulous event.

 

Thanks for help, Bacolicious Brothers, and for the great comments and pictures, WLT fans!

 

-Erika

BACOLICIOUS installation already hits the Bacon Blogs!

Our weekend project, creating giant slabs of bacon at the Smoky Hill River Festival, is already hitting the bacon blogs.  Yay, Bacon!  And, Yay, Volunteers who made it happen!  And YAY, Put-In-Cups!

 

http://skullsandbacon.blogspot.com/2009/06/bacolicious-art.html

 

-Erika, Director, WLT Inc.

 

P.I.C. link:  http://www.putincups.com/shop/index.php

Croatia claims world's largest pair of jeans

Croatia claims world's largest pair of jeans

1 day ago on AFP

ZAGREB (AFP) — A pair of jeans the size of six tennis courts, stitched together from thousands donated for charity, should be recognised by Guinness World Records as the biggest anywhere, organisers said on Sunday. 

Original story:  http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5grhXIukF7yQEinHLyfZvRwivTBLg?index=0

Member Packets, WLT Fans, and Tourist Season

Two more packets go out today, one new, one renew... Best Back Yard Visitors of the month go to two WLT Fans who are meandering their way across the US, visiting only kitsch environments.

 

Now, packing for the big BACOLICIOUS project at the Smoky Hill River Festival - we're installing tomorrow and Thursday, on the upper tier of the tennis courts, visible throughout the festival this weekend in Salina Kansas.  C'mon by!

 

-Erika Nelson, Director WLT Inc.

People have ALWAYS loved WLTs...

 

 

...even in Maugerville, New Brunswick Canada.

 

PT Cruiser Club

...came through today on a Mystery Tour, from Wichita. Before that, two exploratory WLT Fans came by with a notepad and an atlas, looking for the best routes. They're hittin' 'em all between Colorado and Mid-Missouri, in a wonderfully zig-zagging route which will take them to the Ball of Twine in Cawker City, the Spur in Abeliene, Shuttlecocks in Kansas City, Goose and Pecan in Sumner County MO, and more. They'd even stopped by to see the World's Largest Cow Hairball in Garden City - brave explorers!

And, they bought a tee-shirt - always a welcomed event.

Waymarking with Zippy the Pinhead!

This is completely brilliant - utilizing the awesome metaphysical powers of Zippy the Pinhead and his appreciation for Roadside Vernacular Architecture, along with the group-think of Waymarking:  Here it is!  Waymarking Category for Sites Featured in Zippy the Pinhead strips. 

 

Whoop!  Here's the basic idea:

 

The purpose of this category is to locate and waymark specific locations featured in Zippy the Pinhead Comics.

Bill Griffith is the creator and artist of Zippy the Pinhead. Week after week Zippy visits interesting locations worldwide. In his daily-strip incarnation, Zippy spends much of his time traveling and commenting on interesting places; recent strips focus on his fascination with roadside icons featuring giant beings; Zippy also frequently participates in his long-running conversation with the giant fiberglass doggie mascot of San Francisco's "Doggie Diner" chain (later, the Carousel diner near the San Francisco Zoo). The website encourages people to send photos of interesting places for Zippy to visit in the strip. Source and additional information: Wikipedia Mark your maps with this new method!  And, we'll start incorporating the links on our own List of What's Large Where

 

 

It's Official: Bacolicious Artist

Just got the packet in the mail from the Smoky Hill River Festival, with my official nametag.

 

Not only am I now an Official Installation Artist, the important points are in bold:  Erika Nelson: Bacolicious.

 

Meat Man approves.

World's Largest Things lecture in Lakin Kansas

...today, 11:30 lunch, 12:30 program, at the Lakin Senior Center.

New WLCoWSVoWLT signage

Done during tornado warnings (we saw nothing at all here), as a procastination measure (only partially worked - ended up doing both this AND that...).  Visible from our neighbor, S.P. Dinsmoor's Garden of Eden.

Tourist Season is Here!

Four BYVs yesterday, chatted with a large group of Slope Fliers (RC Airplanes - we have good winds here...) this morning, and member packets are off to Arkansas, Ohio, and Kansas new members. The noon whistle just blew, and I see a pack of people headed over from the Garden of Eden... Must have been brought in by the new Home Base signage!

Welcome to Lucas, friends.

New Postcards on Flickr

OK, so they're old postcards, but new postings of the World's Largest Things kind.  Check 'em out on our photostream:

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/worldslargestthings/

Jasonville Indiana Yo-Yo

http://thelongestlistofthelongeststuffatthelongestdomainnameatlonglast.com/largest28.html

 

New Yo-Yo Info:

 

The the woodworking class of Shakamak High School in Jasonville, Indiana built a giant Yo-Yo.

The world's largest Yo-Yo is 6 feet in diameter and weighs in at 820 pounds.

 

World's Largest Yo-Yo Inquiry

Subject: Inquiry

Can you please tell me if the world's largest yo-yo is officially the one Shakamak High School made in 1990 or the one in a museum in California? Thanks for your help, L.B.
 

In looking at the comparison stats, the Shakamak High School Yo-Yo is the largest.  When interviewing the Chico California Yo-Yo owner, he insisted that the other larger Yo-Yos didn't actually 'yo', but according to the Shakamak HS site, theirs does. 

 

Shakamak HS = Winner!

 

Chico Yo-Yo:  75 foot string, 250 pounds, 50 inches high, 31.5 inch width, 5.5 foot diameter, first used over the bay (which bay, I forgot to ask, but assumed San Francisco) in 1996 using an 80 ft. crane

 

Shakamak Yo-Yo: 6 feet in diameter and weighs in at 820 pounds, March 29, 1990 they dropped it from a crane and watched it yoyo up and down 12 times.

 

Thanks for asking, as it clears up some disputes here, too...

 

-Erika Nelson, Director

World's Largest Things, Inc.

WLT dot Org

 

Dot Org site now pointing to the right place - thanks to a phone call from a confused woman, who didn't know what she was looking at when typing in the address... Thanks for the warning!  Cyber work never seems to end...

May Weekly What's Large Where

... off to newspapers in the MidWest. 

 

Also, we've just re-installed the WLCoWSVoWLT at the Home Base in Lucas, after the two-month Belger Arts Center Show.  Just in time for tourist season!

 

Up next, a Cabinets of Curiosities Show which will include some WLTs and WSVs, at the Lincoln Art Center, Lincoln KS, opening Friday May 8, 5-7 p.m.  Look for the Art Cars...

Successful Blogging Today!

We just completed the Blogging update, with everyone typing up a storm...

From the Email Inbox: World's Largest Cheese Postcard on Ebay

GREAT CHROME POSTCARD OF WORLD'S LARGEST CHEESE, 34,591 LBS.  MADE BY STEVE'S CHEESE, DENMARK, WISCONSIN.  THIS FAMOUS CHEESE WAS ON DISPLAY AT THE NEW YORK WORLD' FAIR (1964-65).  STEVE SIUDZINSKI, OWNER.

BRAINSTORM!!!!

The WLCoWSVoWLT TRAAM needs a Museum Catalogue.  AND, there's usually GRANT MONEY for that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Please, dear members and readers, don't let me forget this....

Florida World's Largest Lightbulb

One of our WLT Members has been championing the World's Largest Lightbulb designation for a series of displays in Florida.  Check out his blog post, comparing the geographically diverse Bulbous offerings:

 

http://studiohourglass.blogspot.com/2009/04/worlds-largest-lamp.html

Cabinets of Curiosities Show

May-June 2009, at the Lincoln Art Center, Lincoln Kansas.

 

Join us for the opening reception May 8, 5-7 p.m., where you'll hear the obtuse and obfiscated motivations for the show, from WLT Board Member Don Robertson and WLT Director Erika Nelson.  It's gonna be a great show, with some WSVs and WLTs included...

 

 

In Memory of Art Car Friend, Tom Kennedy

The Art Car world lost on of its greats on Easter Sunday.  Through the numbness that still coats our hearts at this unexpected absence in our lives, the Art Car community is mourning.  Sometimes our reflections lead to bigger and better works, carrying on the unifying desire to inspire through creativity and public artworks that yank the viewer out of their everyday lives.

 

Obituaries have been printed from coast to coast, as Tom Kennedy touched many lives, with a big happy poke from creative fingers.  This L.A. Times obituary is a god illustration of Tom's wide wide circle.  In memory of Tom, please remember to do something silly in a serious way, and build it big.

 

Tom Kennedy dies at 48; sculptor created outlandish Art Cars

Tom Kennedy, a San Francisco artist whose whimsical wheeled sculptures and colorful personality helped popularize the fringe Art Car movement, has died. He was 48.

Kennedy drowned April 12 while body-surfing off San Francisco's Ocean Beach, said Kat "P.K." Ramos, a close friend and roommate. He was struggling with the riptide when a companion tried to pull him to shore.  

The dozens of vehicles that Kennedy transformed into outlandish, original art were joyful creative expressions, his way of winking at the world and daring people not to smile.

His "One-Eyed Wonder" started out as a Ford Ranger and featured a giant eyeball turret with a cannon that shot Twinkies. For a clown, he made two "Hippopautomobiles," converting the front hoods into the animal's broad, grinning mouth. A 1972 Volkswagen-turned-dolphin displayed a signature Kennedy touch, fins.

His first and perhaps most famous creation was "Ripper the Friendly Shark," which he gave a saw-toothed jaw and a tail that swished. The once-simple Nissan Sentra eventually achieved something akin to landmark status in Houston, an early epicenter of the Art Car movement that started to coalesce in the 1990s.

The movement may have gotten a psychedelic assist from the hippie-themed VWs of the 1960s. But it is largely defined by an anything-goes mentality that likely appealed to Kennedy, widely described by friends as a merry prankster.

He was pursuing a career in circulation sales at the Houston Chronicle when he sought to enter the city's annual Art Car parade in the early 1990s.

Kennedy "brought in this picture of this car that he had spray-painted and stuck these metal cutout shapes on and asked, 'Can my car be in the parade?' " recalled Susanne Theis, a former director of the company that produces the parade.

"It was a primitive Art Car, but it morphed into a car that was iconic, and he turned himself into an artist," she said. "He had this instinctive understanding that you needed to connect with people, and he worked at it."

"Ripper" emerged as one of the Art Car movement's "most recognized and inspiring" icons partly because Kennedy took the car "everywhere," including to five Burning Man festivals of artistic self-expression in the Nevada desert, according to "Art Cars," a 2007 book by Harrod Blank.

Kennedy's cars stood out for their sculptural quality and for the way he used them to make political statements, said Philo Northrup, cofounder of ArtCar Fest, an annual Bay Area gathering.

When Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry's ice cream wanted to protest military spending, he hired Kennedy, whose team built the satirical "Topsy-Turvy" a school bus that had a second upside-down bus welded to its top. Completed in 2007, it was a visual pun that alluded to the idea that military spending came at the expense of education and health.

For the most part, Kennedy's wheeled visions veered more toward buggies that were a "powerful bundle of whimsy," he once said, capable of "reclaiming the commercialism of our culture."

Kennedy was born Oct. 8, 1960, in Elizabeth, N.J., and had a nomadic childhood before settling in southern Oregon when he was about 12.

He studied business administration at Michigan Technological University from 1978 to 1981 then started out on the loading dock at the Houston Chronicle and rose to become circulation sales manager.

In 1992, he earned a bachelor's degree in marketing from the University of Houston and spent the next two years studying sculpture at the school.

After leaving newspapers in 1995, he moved to the Bay Area to build Art Cars and concept vehicles and evolved "into the realm of being an Art Car character," Kennedy once said.

There wasn't much money in it, but between jobs he made functional art, such as gates and globes out of metals. And he reveled in the "growing tribe" of Art Car artists he saw as "goodwill ambassadors."

Through a program he founded in 1996, he shipped bicycles to children in Bosnia during the war there and led an Art Car-inspired bicycle parade.

He ardently entered parades in the U.S. Over four years, he put 80,000 miles on "Max the Daredevil Finmobile," a tow vehicle with 13-foot-high fins that could touch the trees.

In 2007, he married Haideen Anderson, a political performance artist who collaborated on his projects.

The artist defined himself as an "adventurer" and once said: "It seems the world is a little short of adventurers right now. Too many people sitting behind a TV or like a computer screen. Someone's got to be out on the street creating the content. That's me."

In addition to his wife, Kennedy's survivors include his mother, Pat; sister Margret; and brothers Matt and Andy.

Plans for the May 1 memorial include an Art Car convoy that starts in San Francisco and ends with a celebration in Oakland. For details, or to make a memorial donation, go to tomkennedyart.com Donations may be earmarked to the Nonviolent Peaceforce,to a fund to retrieve "Ripper" from storage in Europe, or to defray the cost of the memorial service.

valerie.nelson@latimes.com

Weekly Whats Large Where Archives for Members

Members of World's Largest Things, Inc., are entitled to access to the Weekly What's Large Where archives. If you're a member, just let me know, and I'll add your profile to the 'reader' list for full access!

-Erika

Lecture Schedule Now Online

... finally slowed down enough to update the What's New section of the main site, with a list of upcoming "World's Largest Things: Roadside Attractions" and "Inside Outsider Art in Kansas" lectures through the Kansas Humanities Council:

What's New with World's Largest Things

Lucas Airs Again: Driven by Vision

A Canadian production company came through in 2007, just in time for the 100th anniversary of the Garden of Eden.  Their series, Driven by Vision, focuses on Outsider Art environments, the people that make them, and the communities that embrace them.  Lucas gets a full episode devoted to it in the current second season, airing this month across the US on the Ovation Network, and across Canada on Vision TV. 

 

"Are We Still in Kansas?" - Wednesday, April 15

"Expect the Unexpected" is the official town motto of Lucas, Kansas – population 436. This tiny community is home to S.P. Dinsmoor's famed Garden of Eden: a collection of enormous cement sculptures depicting the ravages of big business, along with – incongruously – some of his favourite Bible stories. Lucas is also known for such curiosities as a museum of visionary art, a shrine of repurposed mutant Barbie dolls, and the ever-popular "Worlds' Largest Collection of the World's Smallest Versions of the World's Largest Things."

 

Driven By Vision is produced by Judy Holm and Michael McNamara for Markham Street Films Inc.

 

Said Michael McNamara: "This is a series with a host of themes: inspiration, creation, redemption, defiance. But ultimately it's about the people who brought these places into existence. What inspired them? What obstacles have they overcome? And why do some of these sites continue to live and breathe while others fall victim to the wrecking ball?"

Added Judy Holm: "As artists and filmmakers, we are fascinated by the subject of inspiration. The people who create these sites are compelled by visions and dreams to share their inner worlds. We feel privileged to have encountered these incredible men and women. It makes us see the world differently, and deepens our faith in humanity."

 

They spent a good deal of time in cranes getting never-before-seen scenes of the Garden, as well as conductin interviews with townspeople to get the full story.  This research, enhanced by some great historical photos, makes the Driven by Vision production a new benchmark in telling the story of Lucas and the Garden of Eden.  Search your local listings on the Ovation network to see for yourself!

You can also see a preview on their video site - just click on the Driven by Visions tab...

Babe and Paul Backstory

from the Bemidji Chamber of Commerce, and Convention and Visitors Bureau:

 

http://www.visitbemidji.com/bemidji/paulbabe.html

I've been Phoon'd!!

Found on Phoons Around the World, from a backyard visitor, Januar 2008

 

http://www.phoons.com/smlarge.html

Mr. Blandings went to the Belger

... and blogged about what he found.  A GREAT overview of the show, and collection of stories behind the art currently on display at the Belger Arts Center in Kansas City

 

http://mrsblandings.blogspot.com/2009/04/take-detour.html