Has there ever been a destination so close, yet you fail to visit? This is the case for my humans. Just 1.5 hours away in a small town lives the World’s Largest Twine Ball and my humans have never seen it. You might think to yourself, 1.5 hours away is a long drive. However, they are in that area every couple of months and fail to take the short detour to visit the ball.
I’m happy to say we have crossed this destination off our bucket list!
Pulling up, I was amazing at that size of the ball as well as the shelter they have protecting the ball of twine.
Here is some history and stats about this large ball of twine:
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 circumfrance, 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.
It is hard to see in the pictures just how huge this ball of twine is but I’m glad to able to share this adventure with my humans.
Sources: Darwin Twine Ball Museum
Today I’m joining the Thoughtless Thursday Blog Hop hosted by Ruckus the Eskie, M.K. Clinton, and Love is Being Owned by a Husky.
