Roadside attraction

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Roadside attraction area for visitors

title: "Roadside attraction" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["roadside-attractions", "novelty-architecture"] description: "Roadside attraction area for visitors" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roadside_attraction" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Roadside attraction area for visitors ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/Drumheller_&the_Tyrell_Museum(7897901734).jpg" caption="[[World's Largest Dinosaur]], a roadside attraction in [[Drumheller]], [[Alberta"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/Colborne_Big_Apple.jpg" caption="Big Apple]] in [[Cramahe, Ontario"] ::

A roadside attraction is a feature along the side of a road meant to attract tourists. In general, these are places one might stop on the way to somewhere, rather than being a destination. They are frequently advertised with billboards. The modern tourist-oriented highway attraction originated as a U.S. and Canadian phenomenon in the 1940s to 1960s, and subsequently caught on in Australia. Elsewhere, similar items may be placed on roundabouts and traffic islands in crowded cities.

History

When long-distance road travel became practical and popular in the 1920s, entrepreneurs began building restaurants, motels, coffee shops, cafes, and unusual businesses to attract travelers. Many of the buildings were attractions in themselves in the form of novelty architecture, depicting everyday objects of enormous size, typically relating to the items sold there. Some other types of roadside attractions include monuments and fictionalized-paranormal/illusionary amusements such as the Mystery Spot near Santa Cruz, California, or curiosities such as The Thing? along Interstate 10 in Arizona.

With the construction of the U.S. Interstate Highway System in the mid-1950s, many roadside attractions were bypassed and quickly went out of business. In 2017, the publication Best Life listed 33 top roadside attractions in the U.S. Among those listed were Lucy the Elephant, Margate, New Jersey; Cabazon Dinosaurs, Cabazon, California; Oregon Vortex, Gold Hill, Oregon; Jolly Green Giant, Blue Earth, Minnesota; and Secret Caverns, Howes Cave, New York.

Shrinking small towns have built roadside attractions to "foster civic pride", "make our own fun...especially in the middle of winter", and "make it interesting for people to come and move here". Examples include Big Tom, a 22-foot-tall turkey in Frazee, Minnesota; a collection of giant items including a wind chime, mailbox, golf tee, and pitchfork, in Casey, Illinois; and a giant sugar beet in Halstad, Minnesota. Other Minnesota supersized attractions include a giant loon, otter, prairie chicken, crow, pelican, and three Paul Bunyans. Giant balls of twine are located in four Midwestern states. The Enchanted Highway in North Dakota comprises a 32-mile (51 km) pathway of roadside sculpture.

References

References

  1. (3 April 2018). "RoadTrip America Arizona & New Mexico: 25 Scenic Side Trips". Imbrifex Books.
  2. Kaye Sung Chon. (4 July 2013). "Geography and Tourism Marketing". Routledge.
  3. (14 December 2024). "Roadside colossi: the global allure of a really Big Thing and the Queensland expert plotting their rise". [[The Guardian]].
  4. Wickman, Forrest. (11 August 2015). "A Mini History of Mega Tourist Traps".
  5. (27 June 2017). "Along the Interstates: Seeing the Roadside". Federal Highway Administration.
  6. (11 August 2015). "A Mini History of Mega Tourist Traps". Slate.
  7. Stewart M. Green. (14 January 2014). "Scenic Routes & Byways California's Pacific Coast". Rowman & Littlefield.
  8. (2007). "Weird Arizona: Your Travel Guide to Arizona's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets". Sterling Publishing Company, Inc..
  9. edklein69. "Route 66 History Page".
  10. (5 March 2011). "The History of Route 66". National Historic Route 66 Federation.
  11. Crow, Sarah. (December 20, 2017). "The 33 Best Roadside Attractions in America". BestLife.
  12. Smith, Mitch. (2024-11-28). "This 22-Foot Turkey Roosts in a Region of Roadside Giants".

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