Cawker City, KS weighs in at almost 18,000 pounds. Okay maybe not the city but the Ball of Twine that sits in the center of the city. Every town has something of interest and this Ball of Twine is a RV stopper. We did not make a special trip to get to Cawker City; we were passing through going from Alma, NE to Junction City, KS.
The story goes that farmer Frank Stoeber began knotting the twine that was left after his livestock finished the hay bales. The year was 1953 and by 1957 the ball of twine weighed 5,000 pounds and stood eight feet high. Stoeber reportedly had used 1,175,180 feet of
twine. In 1961 when Kansas celebrated its centennial, Stoeber brought his ball of twine to Cawker City for the celebration and left it. There are other balls of twine yet Cawker City’s is the only ball that is continually adding twine. So today it is truly the Largest Ball of Twine or so Cawker City claims. Each year in August Cawker City host a Twine-a-Thon with various activities including adding twine to the ball.
We were not sure what we would see when we stopped in Cawker City, KS to view the ball of twine or if we would be able to stop since we were towing at the time. There is plenty of parking off the highway and we were able to park two RVs with no problem. The ball sits under a viewing canopy allowing touching and adding twine. There are even benches for viewing and meditating on the twine.
The Ball of Twine is famous having been in at least three movies: Chevy Chase’s “Vacation”, “Beethoven’s Third”, and John Travolta’s “Michael”.
Cawker City, KS is not a destination yet it is worth a “stop along the way”.
This is on my bucket list; what fun! I never noticed before that the bottom of the sign reads “Thrift + Patience = Success” Words to live by!
Thanks for the comment. The words are ones to live by! Good luck with your bucket list.
Saw this and thought about you. http://www.jackrabbit-tradingpost.com/