Kentucky Rushmore, Just One Of The Kentucky Wonders

July 27, 2011

Will Russell has a dream. Well, actually, he has several dreams — and none of them are normal.

For ten years Will has successfully organized Lebowski Fest for fans of the film The Big Lebowski. He obviously has the skills to make odd dreams come true. That’s why no one discounts his ability to transform his latest fever-vision into reality: an attraction named Kentucky Wonders with its “crown jewel” — a replica of South Dakota‘s Mount Rushmore named Kentucky Rushmore.

Kentucky Rushmore will have the faces of four Kentucky icons, 40 to 60 feet tall. The list of potential honorees includes Abraham Lincoln, Colonel Sanders, wonder horse Secretariat, and Jim “Ernest” Varney — but Will hasn’t quite decided yet. Those who fail to make The Final Four, said Will, could be enshrined in an easy-to-visit “Crypt of Immortals” deep within the hollow mountain.

Will says he’s wanted to own a roadside attraction since visiting the Mystery Hole in West Virginia as a teenager. He was also inspired by the Roadside America mobile app (“It changed my life.”) and by RoadsideAmerica.com’s reluctance to add The Beerwolf — displayed at Will’s WHY Louisville gift shop — to its list of attractions. “My hope is that Kentucky Rushmore will qualify.”

Kentucky Rushmore already has a sculptor, Forest Boone, a seventh-generation nephew of Daniel Boone (another potential candidate for enshrinement). “He told me,” said Will, “‘I can do it in styrofoam and spray concrete over it. That’s quick and cheap but it’s gonna look like a putt putt sculpture.’ And I said, ‘Dude, there’s gonna be a lot of putt putt on this land.’”

Indeed, Kentucky Rushmore is just the first of many marvels that Will intends to build on 21 acres in Cave City, an old-time tourist destination that he calls his “favorite place in the world.”

“It’s gonna be a wonderland. That’s why it’ll be called Kentucky Wonders,” said Will. The lineup of attractions would include an “Ewok Dance Village” complete with a fire pit, DJ booth, and disco ball; a museum of Kentucky creatures such as the Hillbilly Sasquatch and Pope Lick Goat Man; and a putt putt golf course themed around the Seven Deadly Sins.

“Most things on the property will claim to be visible from space,” Will said.

If Will’s plans run according to schedule, he’ll break ground on Kentucky Rushmore in November 2011 and have it completed soon after — an amazing feat considering that Will only had the idea on June 25. “The grand vision ultimately is to have a sea of amusements,” said Will.

But can he really make it happen so fast?

“This thing is magical,” he said. “There’s a lot of hot sauce on it.”

Sections: Attraction News, Coming Soon
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Muffler Men Documentary by Clean White Lines

July 23, 2011

Muffler Men, with their mysterious migrations and fascinating mutations, never fail to mesmerize travelers — almost 50 years since the giant statues first spread along America’s highways, and 15 years since Roadside America collected them in one place to point out the phenomenon.

Now a trio of S.F. Bay Area filmmakers intends to tell the M-Man story in a full-length video documentary, investigating and shooting in Fall 2011. Heather MacLean, Staci DeGagne, and Alex Fletcher and their production company, Clean White Lines, are putting together a cross-country road trip to document the many flavors of Muffler Men and their colorful owners.

While Heather first brought her personal passion for the big fiberglass lugs to her naive comrades, now they are all…how can we best say it? In-statue-ated with the mighty Muffler Men saga.

Here at RoadsideAmerica.com, we’d love to see this project creatively realized. We’ve talked to the documentary team about what might make for great encounters and interviews. And we know that they’ll return with many new anecdotes and perspectives on America’s Last Heroes.

Clean White Lines has launched a Kickstarter Project to get the word out, and to gather funds (target: $30k) from fans and supporters by Sept. 1. We encourage you to check out and support their project!

** Kickstarter Project **

Clean White Lines is also asking for traveler and roadside fan stories of memorable encounters with these roadside giants – the good, the bad, and the crazy. Did you propose to your spouse there?  Pepper one with arrows in your irresponsible youth? Get stung by hornets while posing? The best true tales may make it into the documentary, or even persuade the crew to detour to your town for a personal interview!

You can send your accounts as RoadsideAmerica.com tips (mark as: “M-Man Tale”). Or mail your (legible) handwritten letter to:

Attn: Muffler Men
1155 5th St #306
Oakland, CA 94607

We’ll keep you posted as the project continues!

Sections: Video
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Meet John Doe, The Man Who Makes The Monsters

July 7, 2011

Do you want your very own ceramic Braxton County Monster? You might find a used one online, but for a fresh model you have to go to the source: Braxton County, West Virginia. That’s where John Doe (not his real name) lives, and has been selling the monster replicas for almost 50 years.

“Most Braxton County locals think it’s just a hoax,” said John of the monster. He thinks differently, but he also holds positions in various Braxton County organizations, and would rather not draw any more attention to himself as “Monster Man” than he already has.

John said that he got the idea of selling replica monsters in the mid-1960s, when he belonged to the Braxton County Junior Chamber of Commerce. He had a model made from an artist’s concept of the creature — a bug-eyed alien seen next to a grounded flying saucer — then mass-produced it and sold several hundred. Then he got distracted by other projects. “I kinda forgot about it,” he said, but in the mid-1980s he revived the idea and he’s been selling about a dozen monsters a month ever since, out of a gift shop named Bear Heaven. It’s the same model, unchanged, as eerie now as it was a half-century ago.

John was in the same freshman class as Neil Nunley, one of the handful of boys who saw the monster in the town of Flatwoods back in 1952. “Neil was the kind of guy that would spit in the devil’s eye,” said John. “He wasn’t afraid of nothing.” But whenever the subject of the monster came up, John said, “he’d just turn kinda pale and walk away. That got me to kinda believing in this thing.”

John knows that another West Virginia town, Point Pleasant, has had success promoting its Mothman monster. At various times he’s tried to encourage Braxton County to do likewise. The county visitor’s bureau does have a photo-op monster in its office (and it stocks some of John’s replicas). But the effort is tepid. Braxton County doesn’t really believe in its monster. John at least recognizes its ability to draw a crowd.

“I knew all those kids that saw that monster that night,” said John. “I’ve talked to them all separately. And they seen something. I don’t know what it was. But they seen something.”

Sections: Souvenirs
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New Hampshire’s Old Man Resurrected, If You Squint

June 16, 2011

In May 2003 the “Old Man of the Mountain” fell off a cliff in Franconia Notch, New Hampshire. It was a natural rock formation that looked like a craggy face, so loved by its state that its profile is still used on New Hampshire license plates and road signs.

Plans were discussed to somehow revive the Old Man. Sticking something back on the cliff was seen as both disrespectful and impractical, since the Old Man only survived his later years with the help of a maintenance team equipped with anchor cables and epoxy glue. Instead, a memorial was conceived that would give people some idea of what it was like to look up and see the Old Man. It was announced that it would open on the five-year anniversary of the collapse.

In fact it took a little over eight years, but now “profiler plaza” is open.

The “profilers” are seven upright steel rods set into a semicircular granite base at the site of the former Old Man overlook. They look like strange, black street lamps with bumpy tops, random and meaningless. But if you stand just so on the plaza and squint at the exact spot where the Old Man used to be, the bumps on the profilers align to recreate its outline.

Future generations will now know that New Hampshire’s icon was actually kind of small and never as spectacular as its reputation. But they’ll also have the interactive experience of standing at a specific spot to see an otherwise meaningless jumble of bumps and angles turn into the face of an Old Man.

Until the profilers fall down.

Sections: Attraction News
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Sale Of The Century: Steam Pig Could Be Yours!

June 9, 2011

A 55-foot-long piece of steampunk-inspired barnyard-cyborg art, Steam Pig, is for sale. It has to be moved by the end of July. Its creators are listening to all offers (Interested buyers can visit Steam Pig’s web site).

“There’s not gonna be another one,” said Jerry Adams, a designer acting as the artists’ broker. “It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

Steam Pig was built for the 2010 ArtPrize competition in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It didn’t win, but its mega-porcine mass ensured that it stayed where it was. The metalloid porker quickly became a downtown icon. “You give directions by where the pig is,” said Gerry. “There’s a real groundswell of support to keep it here.”

Unfortunately, “here” can’t include the parking lot where it currently stands, which has to be cleared for the 2011 ArtPrize competition. Steam Pig’s size is part of what makes it special, but it also makes it hard to sell. “When you stand underneath that thing, it’s like, wow, that is a big pig.”

Gerry said that he’d already contacted local barbecue restaurants, Hollywood movie studios, the University of Arkansas Razorbacks, and Cincinnati, Ohio (aka “Porkopolis“). Thus far, no sale. The city, which purchased a Loch Ness Monster previously created by the artists, isn’t an option. “I don’t think they want to be seen as the repository for whatever these guys come up with.”

Jerry is, however, hopeful that Steam Pig can find a home with someone who genuinely appreciates it. “I don’t mind the rejections, because it’s always an interesting conversation,” said Gerry. “Worse case scenario, it gets parked on a street corner somewhere, and then we raise money selling candy bars.”

Steam Pig, Grand Rapids, Michigan

Sections: Attraction News, Statues
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R.I.P. Queenie, World’s Last Water Skiing Elephant

June 1, 2011

For a brief two years, a Thailand-born elephant named Queenie became the last known live pachyderm to master water skis.

Queenie was taught her craft by Jim Rusing, a member of the Water Ski Hall of Fame and a producer of aquatic thrill shows. She performed several times a day at Florida’s Ponce de Leon Springs (now DeLeon Springs State Park). Queenie was only seven at the height of her fame, and replaced an earlier skiing elephant named Sunshine Sally. She got her first taste of stardom posing for Mercury Outboard Motor ads. Rusing, always a showman, sometimes put a live bear in the cockpit of the tow boat.

Because of her elephantine size, Queenie’s “skis” were two large pontoons, welded together. She would simply walk onto them from shore, then walk off them when her ride was over. Queenie seemed to enjoy her work, and evidently was far more personable than Sunshine Sally. Her popularity led to guest appearances on The Tonight Show and at rallies for the Republican Party.

Queenie’s aquatic career concluded in 1960, but her fame endured — apparently inspiring the owner of a pink elephant statue in Iowa to take it water-skiing on the Mississippi River in 1978.

After a peaceful retirement in Valdosta, Georgia, Queenie died on Memorial Day 2011. She was 59.

Sections: Tourism News
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