Well, one of them anyway. Yes, there are four contenders of the title of world's largest ball of twine. This one, located in Cawker City, Kansas, is the world's largest ball of sisal twine, by size, and made by a community (The other three are the world's largest ball of plastic twine in Missouri, the world's heaviest ball of twine in Wisconsin, and the world's largest ball of sisal twine rolled by one man in Minnesota).
Cawker City's ball of twine was started in 1953 by a man named Frank Stoeber. There was a bit of a competition in the early days between this ball of twine and the one in Minnesota. The Minnesota twine ball was in the lead for a while, but the competition shifted after the respective deaths of the men who started each ball. The people of Darwin, Minnesota decided to let the ball stay as it was so it would remain the largest ball of twine rolled by one man, whereas the people of Cawker City decided to carry on Mr. Stoeber's work and continue rolling the twine. As a result, the Cawker City ball is still growing. Every August, in fact, the city holds a twine-a-thon, where residents and visitors alike are allowed to continue rolling twine around the ball.
Cawker City's ball of twine was started in 1953 by a man named Frank Stoeber. There was a bit of a competition in the early days between this ball of twine and the one in Minnesota. The Minnesota twine ball was in the lead for a while, but the competition shifted after the respective deaths of the men who started each ball. The people of Darwin, Minnesota decided to let the ball stay as it was so it would remain the largest ball of twine rolled by one man, whereas the people of Cawker City decided to carry on Mr. Stoeber's work and continue rolling the twine. As a result, the Cawker City ball is still growing. Every August, in fact, the city holds a twine-a-thon, where residents and visitors alike are allowed to continue rolling twine around the ball.
The ball of twine is under a pavilion in the middle of Cawker City, right on Highway 24, which is the main route through town. A painfully outdated sign on the left (from 1988!) lists the ball as being over 14,000 pounds, but today it is nearly 18,000 pounds! It also contains a total of almost 8 million feet of twine! EIGHT. MILLION. That's.... a lot of twine!
Today the only danger to its title as Largest Ball of Twine is the threat that it may some day no longer be classified as a "ball." It has long since become too heavy to lift, even with a forklift, so it is no longer possible to wind more twine around the bottom. That means, as more twine is wound, that the ball is growing wider faster than it is growing taller. You can even see how some of the twine has sloughed down and is now bulging along the bottom.
Today the only danger to its title as Largest Ball of Twine is the threat that it may some day no longer be classified as a "ball." It has long since become too heavy to lift, even with a forklift, so it is no longer possible to wind more twine around the bottom. That means, as more twine is wound, that the ball is growing wider faster than it is growing taller. You can even see how some of the twine has sloughed down and is now bulging along the bottom.
Cawker City isn't exactly near any other major attractions, so getting here is probably going to take you a bit out of your way. But if you're a fan of bizarre roadside oddities, and you happen to be anywhere near north-central Kansas for... reasons, then this is definitely worth a stop.
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