Baxter, Minnesota -
Bowling Bunyan and Babe

Paul Bunyan and Babe Bowling

Found Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox at the Paul Bunyan Bowl in Brainerd. Both seemed to be doing great. Snapped a couple photos and took a GPS reading for a Waypointing project. [Kurt Franke, 02/19/2006]

Muffler Man - Bowling Bunyan and Babe

This bowling Bunyan Muffler Man and his pin boy, Babe, were found on the NE side of the intersection of highways 371 and 210, west of Brainerd, MN. Paul Bunyan's Sports Bar & Grill promises "Big Fun, Big Food & Big Drinks" with bowling $2.00 a game during the summer. [PThomp, 08/01/2004]

Paul Bunyan statue

The statue formerly located in Sullivan MO that was damaged is now at Paul Bunyan Bowl in Brainerd (actually Baxter) along with a new Babe! It is fully restored and beautiful. The bowling alley is owned by the McFarland family, who also owned the Paul Bunyan Amusement Center, which closed after last season. That statue (the talking one) along with Babe are now at This Old Farm, along with all the buildings of the old amusement park. This Old farm is located on MN 18 between Brainerd and Garrison and opens in May 2004. I am also documenting this for a movie I am making, which should be completed in roughly one year. [Daniel Taradash, 05/20/2004]

Muffler Man For Sale?

I drove by the lumberjack on I-44 shortly after New Years. The business appears to be for sale and the muffler man is holding a "For Sale" sign. I couldn't tell you if his sign is for the business or for those of us who dream of owning our own big guy. [P. Pospisek, 03/09/2003]

[RA: May 2004 - reported now at Paul Bunyan Bowl, Baxter, MN. The photo is from May 2003 -- the Muffler Man down, either from a storm, or ready for shipment to Minnesota.]

Muffler Man - Memory

I read about your site in the Smithsonian Magazine, and logged on to see if you had the Sullivan, MO man listed already. I was happy to see the old man on there! I just wanted to share some history of the man. I traveled between St. Louis and St. James MO quite regularly as a child and as a young man. I remember the big guy from my earliest days. He stood on the N. side of I-44 holding a chainsaw for many years -- I believe the name of the store was Jonesreds, and I think it was a Husqvuarna chainsaw. Later, he stood there with nothing in his hands, until someone put the axe in there. I remember some football players from our St. James, MO High School telling how, on the way home from a victorious football game, they convinced the bus driver to pull over and they all piled out and saluted the "chainsaw man." Thought you might want to know a bit of this muffler man's history! [Greg Wolfe, 10/13/2000]