Biggest ball of twine

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Several places brag that they have the biggest ball of twine.

1 Largest sisal twine ball built by one person
2 Largest sisal twine ball built by a community
3 Cultural references
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Largest sisal twine ball built by one person

The Johnson Twine Ball

Darwin, Minnesota is the home of a ball by Francis A. Johnson. It is eleven feet in diameter and weighs 17,400 pounds. He started his obsession in March, 1950 and wrapped four hours every day for 29 years. It is currently housed in a specially made gazebo across from the town park on Main Street, and the town celebrates "Twine Ball Day" every August. An adjacent volunteer-run museum and gift shop has displays on the ball's history as well as selling a variety of souvenirs.

[edit] Largest sisal twine ball built by a community

Another ball was started in Cawker City, Kansas by Frank Stoeber. He saw Johnson's ball as a challenge and started his own. Stoeber had 1.6 million feet of twine on his 11-foot diameter ball when he died in 1974. Cawker City built an open-air gazebo over Stoeber's ball where every August a "Twine-a-thon" is held and more twine is added to the ball. As of 2003, the twine ball has reached 17000 lbs, with a length of over 7,000,000 feet. This is now the world's largest and heaviest ball of sisal twine. [1]

This should not be confused with the world's biggest ball of string, which was put together on 23rd May 1985 by locals in Sheffield's Lowfield area. The ball of string is currently on display outside Sheffield United's Bramall Lane stadium.

[edit] Cultural references

"Weird Al" Yankovic's album UHF - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Other Stuff has a song called "The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota". Although ostensibly about the ball in Darwin, Yankovic takes artistic license with the statistics.
- Intriguingly, the Twine Ball Inn and postcards that read "Greetings from the Twine Ball, wish you were here.", fictitious inventions of Yankovic's, are now attractions in Darwin.
- Yankovic refers to his previous work, and thusly the ball itself, in the video for "White & Nerdy", wherein a Trivial Pursuit card which includes the question "In what city is the largest ball of twine built by one man?" appears on screen.
The Sam & Max Hit the Road adventure game by LucasArts includes a stop at a Biggest Ball of Twine with a rotating restaurant on top - this fictional ball of twine is located at Central Dis, Minnesota. An exhibit in the museum at its base claims that its mass will eventually cause the Earth to gravitate towards the sun, destroying the planet.
In one episode of Time Squad, George W. Bush tries to lift the spirits of Americans by building the biggest ball of twine.

[edit] References

Doug Kirby, Ken Smith, and Mike Wilkins (missingdate). World's Largest Twine balls. RoadsideAmerica.com.
Tony Sintes (2000-10-11). Hey, kids, who wants to see the second biggest ball of twine?. JavaWorld.
Margaret Minnick (missingdate). I like twine.. Motel Magazine.
Charles Murphy (1993-12-28). Balls of String. ABC Evening News. Vanderbilt University.
missingauthor (2000-10-29). We'll Beat the Daylights Into You. History House.