Twine………a whole lot of twine!! I don’t know how many people know that the worlds largest ball of twine is in Darwin, Minnesota.
I didn’t know this, well not until shortly before my brothers visit in 2009. Picture it………..a fun Wednesday night at the townhouse bar with my friends…..a couple/possibly few beers in, my friends and I decide I MUST take Dean to see something truly and uniquely American!! I decide a ball of twine is definitely a clear winner…. something you see on movies like National Lampoons Vacation!! To my pleasant surprise Google told me that the worlds largest ball of twine was in Minnesota, Darwin MN to be specific and then Google driving directions were kind enough to tell me this was just over an hours drive from the Twin Cities. Who’d have thought….after living here for almost 1o years I’d gone without visiting this amazing feat of mankind?? Well NO LONGER……….I decided that this was most definitely on the schedule for Dean’s visit.
The City of Darwin has a great website dedicated to this ball of twine; http://www.darwintwineball.com/
I have copied an except from the website to describe the ball of twine, see below;
The Twine Ball
Darwin, Minnesota is the home of a the largest Twine Ball in the World made by one man, Francis A. Johnson.
The Twine Ball is 4 meters (13 ft) in diameter, 40 ft in circumference, and weighs 17,400 pounds (7,900 kg).
Francis A. Johnson started his obsession in March of 1950 and wrapped for 4 hours every day for 23 weeks.
Francis lifted it with a crane to continue proper wrapping as he went along. For 39 years, this magnificent sphere evolved at Johnson’s farm. Eventually the ball was moved to a circular open air shed on his front lawn.
When Francis died in 1989, the city of Darwin moved the ball onto a special city lot across from the park on Main Street.
The gazebo that shelters it today allows viewing from all sides through Plexiglas panels.
When Dean and I first made the trip from the cities to Darwin, it was one of the coldest day’s in March 2009, we almost froze to death writing our names in the visitors book. The local museum dedicated to this twine ball was only open by calling ahead during the winter, so the lovely old man was super excited to come out and show us the museum and boy are we ever lucky he did because if he hadn’t we’d have missed out on seeing this:
Handcarved Multiple Pliers
After the Twine Ball was noted as the largest in the world created by one man, Francis decided to take up a new project.
In addition to the Twine Ball, Francis Johnson made tens of thousands of pliers from bass wood.
They are made from one single piece of wood – no glue or nails used. They open, close and look functional, but they’re not. They’re sculptures, like totem poll carvings.
The smallest was whittled from a match. The largest is 7 ft. tall and unfolds to nearly 20 ft. long—with 25 little pliers hatching from its handles.
One last tid bit of information I’m sure you’d all love to know is that the 2nd Saturday each and every August the City of Darwin celebrates “Twine Ball Days”, see their website for more information (see below)
Each year the entire town celebrates “Twine Ball Days” on the second Saturday in August – Be sure to join us!
Lastly to finish off this blog I thought I’d add a photo array of the trips made to see the Twine Ball with my family, I was so lucky to see this amazing tourist attraction twice in 2009. The second time we made this trip it was in warmer weather and I was very happy to be driving, considering there were five of us all jam-packed into my Saturn!! I’m sure a memory none of us will forget anytime soon!!
