After conducting research – okay, 10 minutes scanning roadsideamerica.com – I have concluded that you can create a museum or roadside attraction out of anything and “they” will come. But the ones that garner the most attention are those that lean toward the unusual, grotesque or bizarre.
As those behind Pinckneyville’s projects move forward they might want check in with the people of Arcola. The central Illinois town of Amish carpenter bees is abuzz with attractions.
For starters, there is Rockome Gardens; an Amish amusement park. I’m not sure what the stone-faced Amish would see as amusing but it’s worth a couple of bucks to find out.
“Hey Seth, you’ve got cornmeal in your beard. Ha-ha.”
Just a horse and buggy ride away is the Broom and Brush Museum. Now if the Amish laugh factory doesn’t get to you this one is sure to sweep you off your feet.
Arcola also boasts the Raggedy Ann and Andy Museum but it is the town’s Hippie Memorial that most interests me. Come to think of it, I suggest one’s first stop in Arcola should be Hippieland, grab a few brownies from the concessionaire and then hit the other spots. It will add a new perspective to the visit.
“Dude, that Raggedy Ann keeps staring. I think she wants me.”
Arcola shows that multiple venues – no matter how disparate they are – can feed off of each other. Pinckneyville’s old jockstrap locker and rusty plow barn should do the same, but there are other equally effective strategies to lure tourists out there.
We can go the “largest” route. All across America little towns like ours vie for attention by claiming to have the largest one thing or another. In some cases multiple towns stake claim to the largest of the same thing.
Balls of twine seem to be a particularly competitive area. You might believe that you stumbled upon the largest twine ball when visiting Cawker City, Kansas only find the town of Darwin, Minn. says its twine has no twin. But wait, there’s more. A man in Lake Nebagamon , Wis. who claims to be the dumbest guy in the world also says he has the biggest ball twine.
So my advice to the powers that be in Pinckneyville is stay away from the hotbed known as twine balls. Ain’t no one bragging about their yarn collections, though.
Scratch from the list big chairs, too. Towns in North Carolina, Massachusetts, Tennessee and Alabama each says their chair is the largest. Strangely, North Carolina is suppose to also be home to the biggest desk, but the chair town and desk town haven’t gotten together to jointly market these marvels.
Creating a mystery attraction is another approach to take. While drive through the Sonoran Desert south of Tucson one will see billboards everywhere that read, “The Thing. What is it?” It will cost a five-spot to find out but when you view The Thing you’re not sure what you’ve seen. It could be a lump of dried javelina dung for all you can tell.
One of my favorites is the “Mystery Hole” of Ansted, W.V. Now this is genius marketing at its best. Have people pay to look into a hole that is described as “unbelievable.”
Tourist number one: “How was the hole?”
Tourist number two: “Unbelievable.”
Tourist number one: “That interesting, huh?”
Tourist two: “No, unbelievable that I just spent $5 to look into a hole.”
I was thinking if we had any holes around here that we can sell as tourist attractions and then it hit me – check out the city, county or any local school district financial books and you’ll see many deep, scary holes.
We can become the capital of something. Ridgway, Ill. is the “Popcorn Capital of the World”; there is a place in Oklahoma that dubbed itself the “Cow Chip Capital of the World.” Maybe we can become the “Fair Fly Capital” in honor of those nasty little pests that descend about our city when the Perry County Fair is running.
There is a Cathedral of Junk in Texas. We had one of those over by St. Bruno’s but the city had it cleaned up. We have another one in the makings south of town. Maybe we can market it as an attraction instead of viewing it as an eyesore?
The sky is the limit on what we can create that would interest travelers. Gays, Ill. has a double-decker outhouse (you don’t want to be on the lower level when the top one is occupied, I image) and Missouri has a hair museum.
What are your thoughts? We can we create in Pinckneyville that could feed off, or even into, the two museums that are being built? Post your comments below.
