More big (and weird) stuff from a big (and weird) country.
Object: A huge hockey stick
Place: Duncan, B.C.
Story: It’s only natural that a hockey-loving nation has the world’s largest hockey stick and puck. A 62.5-meter- (205-foot-) stick made of Douglas fir and reinforced with steel adorns the community center in Duncan on Vancouver Island. Forty times life-size, the stick weighs in at a whopping 27,700 kilograms (61,000 pounds). The government of Canada commissioned it as part of the Expo ’86 World’s Fair Exposition in Vancouver. Guinness World Records officially recognized Duncan’s stick as the world’s largest on July 14, 2008, after a 20-year battle. Eveleth, Minnesota, also had “the world’s largest hockey stick,” but it’s a puny 32.6 meters (107 feet).
Object: The big apple
Place: Colborne, Ontario
Story: A nearly 11-meter- (35-foot-) apple—complete with an observation deck and a restaurant inside—shines in Colborne, Ontario. The apple is part of a small enterprise called The Big Apple, which sells pies and sandwiches. The attraction lures in visitors with a rabbit-petting park and miniature golf.
Object: Mucho dinero
Place: Ontario
Story: Sudbury is home to a 9-meter- (30-foot-) tall 1951 Canadian nickel. It is the only item left from what was to be a “numismatic theme park.” (Nothing says “action park” like coin collecting!) In Campbellford, Ontario, an 8-meter- (27-foot-) tall two-dollar coin looms over the villagers. Campbellford is the hometown of the artist who drew the polar bear on the “toonie.” In 1992, Echo Bay, Ontario, paid a similar honor to local Robert-Ralph Carmichael who designed the loonie. The town erected a big replica of the coin along the highway.
A study in Institute of Physics’ journal found that global warming could kill outdoor hockey.
Place: Macklin, Saskatchewan
Story: When you think Macklin, think enormous horse anklebone. A nearly 10-meter- (32-foot) fiberglass horse anklebone greets travelers at the town’s tourist information center. Bunnock is the name of that bone, and it’s also the name of a game played in Macklin. It originated with German and Russian soldiers posted in Siberia in the late 1800s. The “game of bones” was brought to the Macklin area by Russian and German settlers in the early 1900s. The game has been called a cross between bowling and curling—two teams square off on opposite sides and try to knock over their opponent’s row of standing bunnocks by throwing bones at the bunnocks. The town still hosts the World Bunnock Championship every year.
Object: A huge, horned human
Place: Gimli, Manitoba
Story: A 4.6-meter- (15-foot-) tall Viking stands watching over the shores of Lake Winnipeg in Gimli, Manitoba. Gimli boasts the largest Icelandic population outside of Iceland. In Norse mythology, Gimli is the home of the Gods. In the 1870s, Icelandic settlers established the Republic of New Iceland in Gimli and surrounding towns. In midsummer, the Icelandic festival known as “Islendingadagurinn” attracts about 30,000 people—many wearing Viking helmets. Costumed re-enactors depict life in Viking times and demonstrate Viking weapons and warfare. Contests include pole vaulting and Islendingadunk, a combination pillow fight and jousting match where opponents sit on poles suspended over water and try to dunk each other.
Gimli is also the setting for the creepy and expressionist Guy Maddin film Tales from Gimli Hospital. And Gimli is home to the Gimli Glider, an Air Canada jet that, in July of 1983, ran out of fuel at 12,500 meters (41,000 feet). The crew was able to glide it to a safe emergency landing. How can a plane not have enough fuel? The metric system is partially to blame. The accident happened shortly after Canada converted from the imperial system to the metric system, and the fuel tank was filled inadequately due to a misunderstanding of the newly adopted system of measurement.
Actor Leslie Nielsen’s brother Erik was the Deputy Prime Minister of Canada.
• A 9.8-meter- (32-foot-) tall Tin Soldier stands guard over New Minster, British Columbia.
• A colossal cowboy casts a very long shadow in Airdrie, Alberta. He stands about nine meters (30 feet) tall in a cowboy hat and moustache.
• Visit Medicine Hat to see the “World’s Largest Teepee,” a metal-pipe construction 68.5 meters (215 feet) tall. (But then where do you go to see the world’s largest medicine hat?)
• The world’s largest dinosaur (25 meters, 82 feet tall) continuously bares its fiberglass teeth in Drumheller, Alberta.
• For moose fans, the largest of these beasts is Mac in, naturally, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. The world’s most sizable moose is made of over 9,000 kilograms (10 tons) of concrete and steel.
• The biggest furry tree gnasher resides in Beaverlodge, Alberta. Built in 2004, the 4.5-meter- (15-foot-) tall bucktooth critter perches on a 6-meter- (20-foot-) long log and weighs over 1,300 kilograms (a ton and a half).
• A depiction in flight, the statue of the giant duck in Andrew, Alberta, was erected to spotlight the duck breeding grounds in the local wetlands. With its 7-meter (23-foot) wingspan, the fowl flies above a local playground, and some jokingly warn about the huge droppings that the big quacker might leave behind.
• Montreal, Quebec, has a gargantuan fruit—a three-story plastic orange that’s been serving orange juice since 1942.
• The biggest furry tree gnasher resides in Beaverlodge, Alberta. Built in 2004, the 4.5-meter- (15-foot-) tall bucktooth critter perches on a 6-meter- (20-foot-) long log and weighs over 1,300 kilograms (a ton and a half).
• A 3-meter- (10-foot-) tall buffalo reminds travelers to Wainwright, Alberta, that this was the site of Canada’s biggest buffalo herd.
• The world’s largest tractor weathervane calls attention to the Canadian Tractor Museum in Westlock, Alberta. The museum displays rare and just plain interesting vintage tractors.
Canada won most gold medals ever (14) at a Winter Olympics (2010).