Workin', Emailin', and Writin'

It's been a great catch-up set of days, including:

 

Direction-finding for the giant Doctor's Bag in the Wlimington DE area, slogging through Weekly Whats Large Where columns (getting there!  Just a few more dates needed for August), uploading images to the image blog, responding to an extremely nice letter from a man in Audubon Iowa, detailing his personal experiences as one of the structural builders of the World's Largest Bull, sending off products to members and fans, and ordering a new bit of merchandise for the museum (members, you'll find out first!). 

 

Heading out Wednesday for a show in Lousiville, just a block over from the World's Largest Baseball Bat, then a lecture in Pittsburgh Kansas to a Housing Conference, Community Art Car Painting in St. Joseph Missouri, and then we'll be in the middle of August.

 

Keep on Living Large, and thanks for all the eyes and info gatherers out there along the American Roadside.

Re: Where's the World's Largest Doctor's Bag?

From: "DP

To: <info@worldslargestthings.com>
Sent: Tuesday, July 22, 2008 11:45 AM
Subject: Where's the World's Largest Doctor's Bag?

I couldnt find its address for that. I know it is located in Wilmington, DE. Id really appreciated if u found the address or directions for that. Many thanks



Hi there - sorry for the delay, but we've been on the road for a week or so, and I needed to get out the Wilmington area map with the circle on it... While I didn't write down the address, I believe I located it on Google Maps while cross-referencing - If I'm looking at it right, the giant doctors bag should be here:

39.698220, -75.654480

Not sure if this is considered Newark DE, Newport, Wlimington, or something else alltogether.

Nearest major navigation points would be Christiana hospital (which is a bit south and west of the Dr. Bag) and the Hale-Byrnes House...(which is just across Hwy 7/Hwy 4 to the East).

The Doctors Bag is sitting on the NE corner of a large building (medical? doctors offices?) that faces Stanton Christiana Road (Hwy 7/Hwy 4). You actually access it from Twin C Lane

Hope this helps, and gets you there! If you do go and see, would you write back with the business name in the large building, and address, so future seekers can have clearer directions?

Thanks for asking!
-Erika Nelson, Director, World's Largest Things, Inc.

More Hobo Soup Fans

Those pics will also be appearing soon on the WLT Flickr Photo blog, but in the meantime, here's what another Hobo Soup fan says, from a graphic design perspective:

 

http://www.draplin.com/2008/07/post_319.html

 

And, a follow-up from the original designer of the label, Dick Stuck (Really!  That's his name!):

 

From Dick Stuck, Minneapolis, Minn., to his grandson Eric out in Portland,

"Eric, I got a very big kick out of the Hobo Soup you mounted on the web.

At the time I did that label, the originator of the soup, Lem Kaercher was in the state legislature. They happened to have a Saturday session when I took the finished art to Lem in the House of Representatives. He dropped everything and walked around and showed it to every one in the chambers. Forget the State's business, let's take care of the important business ... a soup label.

It's still the same label, and the soup is still in stores all over. I wish I were getting a percentage. I have an exhibit of my stuff at the Old Log Theater. No sales yet, but its only been up a week.

I really hope we can all get together again soon.

Love, Grandpa"

Best thing I've read all week. Hands down.

From the Catsup Bottle Lady, regarding the Hawaii Pineapple destruction...

 

----- Original Message -----

From: Judy DeMoisy

To: Worlds Largest Things

Sent: Sunday, July 27, 2008 10:00 AM

Subject: Re: Freshest Weekly What's Large Where

on the way to work, but gotta say that the reduction of the pineapple was an inspiration for my first press release announcing that the catsup bottle's distant cousin was an example of what we did not wan to happen with our bottle! I lived in Honolulu and the pineapple has upside down Minihunas painted on it, they are like trolls or elves in Hawaii.....spelling is probably worng, but I bet the loss of elevation made the spirits angry!!!!! I used to laff at the pineapple and play with my girls because the roads wind around so much on the island that one second you are looking out of the left side of the car and the next the pineapple has "moved" to the right side view from the car! Now that was cool!!!!! gotta run, late!!!!! thanks again for joining us for the fest!!! Love, Judy

 

Golden Spike, Council Bluffs IA

See?!?  HUGE!!!  This was the first shot from the vehicle - base stands approx. 7' tall.

According to Roadside America, the monument is 56' tall, and marks the eastern terminus of the Union Pacific Railroad. The monument's dedication, April 28, 1939, coincided with Omaha's premiere showing of the film, "Union Pacific." Recently refurbished.

YAY!!! W.L. Golden Spike is HUGE!!!

Just returned from the Corning Iowa show, and will post pics here and on Flickr, but had to say YAY!!! I HEART WORLDS LARGEST THINGS! Took a detour through Council Bluffs, with a tiny scrap of paper that had directions (maybe) to the World's Largest Golden Spike. Yes, they were correct, and yes, it's HUGE! Yay! You'll see...

Products In the Mail

Sent off a tee and some postcards, as a result of the latest WLT Big Idea mailing. Also, packing for tomorrow's trek to Corning Iowa for an Art Car Show and some Big Things scouting...

From the Snail Mail In-Box: W.L. Pumpkin Pie, Circleville Ohio

From the back of the vintage postcard:

 

The World's Largest Pumpkin Pie is baked annually for the Circleville Pumpkin Show, by Lindsey's Bake Ship, Circleville,, Ohio.  Weight:  273 lbs., Recipe: 32.5 lbs. pie dough, 12 gal. pumpkin, 36 lbs. sugar, 12 doz. eggs, 4 lbs. cornstarch, 1 lb. salt, 1 lb. spices, 102 lbs. milk.  Bake 6 hours - cool 6 hours - and serve.  Cost - $61.08.

W.L. Ice Cream Cone, Wadena (Verndale) MN

We're back home for a day from a Minnesota trip, with great WL Things spottings - see pics as they are uploaded on the WLT Flickr Page.

 

This is an oversized ice cream cone that used to sit in a park, downtown Wadena.  A few years ago, I noticed it was missing, but re-emerged at a private residence south of Wadena on MN 71 - Yay! 

 

Next up, "Scout" participates in Corning Iowa's Art Car event this weekend...

W.L. Last Supper Light Bright for sale on Ebay

Oh, so sad to see another World's Largest Thing looking for a home...

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/THE-WORLDS-LARGEST-LITE-BRITE-Last-Supper-5-x-10_W0QQitemZ230272295027QQihZ013QQcategoryZ20158QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

The pegged image itself measures approximately 4'9" tall by 9'9" wide and is comprised of exactly 124,418 brand new, original Lite-Brite pegs. After running out of clear/white pegs from my initial bulk peg order from Hasbro, I had to buy out the entire Lite-Brite stock of every Toys-R-Us, Wal*Mart, and Target in a 15 mile radius several times over just to replenish the shortage of pegs in that color!

               An actual Lite-Brite toy has a black background which utilizes blank spaces as "black", but does not have actual black pegs. For artistic and Guinness certification purposes (now an official record, see below), I was unable to leave blank spaces. What to do? Unused pegs were painted black with several layers of a special glossy paint made specifically for plastics. The result is a strong-bonded paint that doesn't chip or flake in the slightest.

               The pegs are fixed to the "canvas" with 8 layers of glue. Not just any glue, but non-fogging cyano-acrylate (the most expensive and hard-to-find of the super glues). This non-fogging glue was chosen for its unequaled bonding strength and the fact that it wouldn't discolor the pegs, inhibiting light transmission.

Corn of Corns

Brilliant!  An ear of corn made of ears of corn, billed as the World's Largest Ear of Corn, Alta Iowa.

W.L. Velvet Elvis for sale on Ebay

Need a World's Largest of your very own?  This one's a beauty...

http://cgi.ebay.com:80/The-Worlds-Largest-Velvet-Elvis-painting_W0QQitemZ330252839031QQihZ014QQcategoryZ551QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Paperwork

After a great weekend in Collinsville IL for the 10th annual Catsup Fest with the World's Largest Bottle of Catsup, it was time to catch up on some paperwork.  So, we're now registered for the first three classes through the Kansas Small Business Develoment Center, working on an updated budget for actual expenses for the upcoming Society for Commercial Archeology conference, and wrapped up outstanding invoices for the most recent issue of "Big Idea" (now in mailboxes across the state!)

 

We're back on the road for about a week, so keep on Living Large during our absence!

 

-Erika Nelson, Director, WLT Inc.

Newest Issue of "Big Idea" goes out today!

You should be receiving them soon.

And, we're off tomorrow to Collinsville to the World's Largest Bottle of Catsup SummerFest, with a small portion of the collection. See ya' on the road!

-Erika

World's Largest Things and the Kansas Arts Commission

.. a great combination! We've been working our tails off here, re-vamping the short-term goals of World's Largest Things, making smaller portable sections of the Collection to keep it mobile while Big Mobile Museum Development continues, and doing some grant-writing to help out with the various stages of development.

We'll be bringing an Illinois/Missouri/Route 66 collection with us to the upcoming Collinsville Catsup Festival this weekend.

Newsletters are folded and ready for address labels.

And, in the snail-mail today, a notification from the Kansas Arts Commission that we've received our first grant! It's earmarked for developing the financial bookkeeping side of WLT Inc., as well as support for attending the Society for Commerical Archeology conference in Albuquerque, NM.

Yay, Kansas Arts Commission!

Yay, World's Largest Things!

Yay, World's Largest Bottle of Catsup!

-Erika Nelson, Director, WLT Inc.

World's Largest Golden Spike, Council Bluffs IA

Gotta stop by and see!  Not far from our region, and there IS an upcoming Minnesota trip in the works...

 

Golden Spike Monument:
Address: Council Bluffs, IA [Show Map]
Directions: 9th Ave. just east of South 21st St.
Hours: Daylight hours.