Editing Roadside attraction

{{Short description|Roadside attraction area for visitors}}
{{for|the unrelated American production and distribution company|Roadside Attractions}}
[[File:Drumheller & the Tyrell Museum (7897901734).jpg|thumb|[[World's Largest Dinosaur]], a roadside attraction in [[Drumheller]], [[Alberta]]]]
[[File:Colborne_Big_Apple.jpg|thumb|[[Big Apple (Colborne, Ontario)|Big Apple]] in [[Cramahe, Ontario]]]]

A '''roadside attraction''' is a feature along the side of a road meant to attract [[tourist]]s. In general, these are places one might stop on the way to somewhere, rather than being a destination. They are frequently advertised with [[billboard (advertising)|billboards]]. The modern tourist-oriented highway attraction originated as a [[United States|U.S.]] and [[ Canada| Canadian]] phenomenon in the 1940s to 1960s,<ref name="QuinnAmerica2018">{{cite book|author1=Rick Quinn|author2=RoadTrip America|title=RoadTrip America Arizona & New Mexico: 25 Scenic Side Trips|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tB5KDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT177|date=3 April 2018|publisher=Imbrifex Books|isbn=978-1-945501-11-1|pages=177–}}</ref> and subsequently caught on in [[Australia]].<ref name="Chon2013">{{cite book|author=Kaye Sung Chon|title=Geography and Tourism Marketing|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kdrv9Pdw4EQC&pg=PT147|date=4 July 2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-37739-6|pages=147–}}</ref> Elsewhere, except Antarctica, similar items are placed on [[roundabouts]] and [[traffic islands]] in crowded cities.<ref name="tg 2024-12-14">{{cite news |last1=Hinchliffe |first1=Joe |title=Roadside colossi: the global allure of a really Big Thing and the Queensland expert plotting their rise |url=https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/dec/13/roadside-colossi-the-global-allure-of-a-really-big-thing-and-the-queensland-expert-plotting-their-rise |access-date=4 January 2025 |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=14 December 2024}}</ref>

==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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.slate.com/articles/life/travel_explainer/2015/08/_world_s_biggest_roadside_attractions_a_history_of_world_s_largest_tourist.html|title=A Mini History of Mega Tourist Traps|first=Forrest|last=Wickman|date=11 August 2015|via=Slate}}</ref><ref name=Weingroff>{{cite web|last1=Weingroff|first1=Richard F.|title=Along the Interstates: Seeing the Roadside|url=https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/along.cfm|website=Highway history|publisher=Federal Highway Administration|date=27 June 2017|access-date=6 April 2018|language=en}}</ref> 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.<ref name= Wickman >{{cite news|last1=Wickman|first1=Forrest|title=A Mini History of Mega Tourist Traps|url=http://www.slate.com/articles/life/travel_explainer/2015/08/_world_s_biggest_roadside_attractions_a_history_of_world_s_largest_tourist.html|access-date=6 April 2018|work=Slate|date=11 August 2015}}</ref> Some other types of roadside attractions include monuments and fictionalized-paranormal/illusionary amusements such as the [[Mystery Spot]] near Santa Cruz, California,<ref name="Green2014">{{cite book|author=Stewart M. Green|title=Scenic Routes & Byways California's Pacific Coast|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5RVKAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA45|date=14 January 2014|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-1-4930-0475-1|pages=45–}}</ref> or curiosities such as [[The Thing (roadside attraction)|The Thing?]] along [[Interstate 10]] in Arizona.<ref name="TreatMoran2007">{{cite book|author1=Wesley Treat|author2=Mark Moran|author3=Mark Sceurman|title=Weird Arizona: Your Travel Guide to Arizona's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LYr3fSjwfMYC&pg=PA95|year=2007|publisher=Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.|isbn=978-1-4027-3938-5|pages=95–}}</ref>

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.<ref name=Weingroff/> Some remained attractive enough to divert travelers from the interstate for a brief respite and thus remain in business. The best example of this change is along [[US Route 66]], where in the southwest, [[Interstate 40]] provided for non-stop travel.<ref>{{cite web|author=edklein69|title=Route 66 History Page|url=http://www.route66world.com/66_history/|website=Route 66 World|access-date=6 April 2018|archive-date=23 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200823215839/http://www.route66world.com/66_history/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=The History of Route 66|url=https://www.national66.org/history-of-route-66/|publisher=National Historic Route 66 Federation|access-date=6 April 2018|date=5 March 2011|archive-date=12 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200612111408/https://www.national66.org/history-of-route-66/|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 2017, the publication ''[[Best Life (magazine)|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.<ref name=BestLife2017>{{cite news|date=December 20, 2017|first=Sarah|last=Crow|title=The 33 Best Roadside Attractions in America|url=https://bestlifeonline.com/best-roadside-attractions-america/|work=BestLife}}</ref>

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".<ref name="d057">{{cite web |last=Smith |first=Mitch |last2=Dickie |first2=Graham |date=2024-11-28 |title=This 22-Foot Turkey Roosts in a Region of Roadside Giants |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/28/us/worlds-largest-turkey-minnesota-thanksgiving.html |access-date=2024-11-29 |website=The New York Times}}</ref> 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.<ref name="d057" /> Other Minnesota supersized attractions include a giant loon, otter, prairie chicken, crow, pelican, and three Paul Bunyans.<ref name="d057" /> Giant balls of twine are located in four Midwestern states.<ref name="d057" />  The [[Enchanted Highway]] in North Dakota comprises a 32-mile (51 km) pathway of roadside sculpture.

== See also ==
{{Div col}}
* ''[[Another Roadside Attraction]]'', 1971 novel by Tom Robbins
* [[Another Roadside Attraction (festival)]], Canadian music festival 
* [[Australia's big things]], novelty architecture, and large sculptures in Australia
* [[Enchanted Highway]], a collection of scrap metal sculptures along an unnumbered stretch of highway in North Dakota
* [[Giants of the Prairies]], novelty architecture, and large sculptures in Canada
* [[John Margolies]], whose 13,000+ photographs of roadside attractions in the United States are now in the public domain
* [[List of largest roadside attractions]] (international)
* [[Novelty architecture]]
* [[Roadside America (disambiguation)]]
* [[Tourist trap]]
* [[Wall Drug]]
* ''[[What Were They Thinking?]]'', a Canadian comedy television series which profiled roadside attractions
{{Div col end}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
{{Refbegin}}
*{{cite book|last1=Berger|first1=Michael L.|title=The American automobile in the 20th century : a reference guide|date=2001|publisher=Greenwood Press|location=Westport, CT|isbn=9780313245589}}
*{{cite book|last1=Hollis|first1=Tim|title=Dixie before Disney: 100 years of roadside fun|date=1999|publisher=University Press of Mississippi|isbn=9781617033742}}
*{{cite book|last1=Jakle|first1=John A.|last2=Sculle|first2=Keith A.|title=Remembering Roadside America Preserving the Recent Past as Landscape and Place.|date=2011|publisher=University of Tennessee Press|location=Knoxville|isbn=9781572338333}}
*{{cite book|last1=Kirby|first1=Doug|last2=Smith|first2=Ken|last3=Wilkins|first3=Mike|title=The new Roadside America: the modern traveler's guide to the wild and wonderful world of America's Tourist attractions|date=1992|publisher=Simon & Schuster|location=New York|isbn=9780671769314}}
*{{cite book|last1=Margolies|first1=John |author-link=John Margolies|title=Fun along the road : American tourist attractions|date=1998|publisher=Little, Brown|location=Boston|isbn=978-0821223512}}
*{{cite book|last1=Marling|first1=Karal Ann|title=The Colossus of Roads: Myth and Symbol Along the American Highway|url=https://archive.org/details/colossusofroadsm00marl|url-access=registration|date=1984|publisher=University of Minnesota Press|isbn=9781452905013}}
{{Refend}}

== External links ==
{{commonscat|Roadside attractions}}
* [https://www.npr.org/blogs/pictureshow/2010/04/15/126017223/roadside-america Roadside America: The Decline Of Kitsch?] by ''[[NPR]]''
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070630084333/http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/6roadside/6roadside.htm  ''“Roadside Attractions”'', a National Park Service Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) lesson plan]
*[https://sca-roadside.org Society for Commercial Archeology]
*[https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5521352 American highways and roadside attractions] (NPR)
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[[Category:Roadside attractions| ]]
[[Category:Novelty architecture| Road]]