Arizona Oddities

Main Menu

  • Home
  • Your Guides
  • Departments
    • Art
    • Dose of History
    • Culture
    • Natural Surroundings
    • Odd Observations
    • Weather Talk
    • Food & Dining
    • Small Town Scene
    • Recreation
    • Only in Arizona
  • Get the Books
  • Contact Us

logo

Arizona Oddities

  • Home
  • Your Guides
  • Departments
    • Art
    • Dose of History
    • Culture
    • Natural Surroundings
    • Odd Observations
    • Weather Talk
    • Food & Dining
    • Small Town Scene
    • Recreation
    • Only in Arizona
  • Get the Books
  • Contact Us
Only in Arizona
Home›Only in Arizona›The World’s Largest and Smallest… Funky Claims to Fame in Arizona

The World’s Largest and Smallest… Funky Claims to Fame in Arizona

By Andrea Aker
April 7, 2013
4050
5

Arizona has some truly one-of-a-kind wonders and quirky artistic endeavors, several of which have earned the titles of world’s largest or smallest. Below, we’re sharing some of our favorites. Do you know of any other “worldly” oddities? Leave us comment with your thoughts.

World’s Largest Kokopelli in Camp Verde

CAMP VERDE — The world’s largest kokopelli, commonly known as “that big flute player,” has been leaning over and giving silent performances in front of the Krazy Kokopelli Trading Post here for more than 20 years. The large sculpture stands 32 feet tall, sits atop a six-foot base and is painted yellow, so he’s probably one of the main reasons tourists stop to check out the variety of goods offered inside.

50 superior

The world’s smallest museum in Superior. Photo Credit: Sam Lowe

The World’s Smallest Museum in Superior

SUPERIOR – Even though it never gets any larger, the World’s Smallest Museum in Superior remains a work in progress. Owner Dan Wight never enlarges the museum itself, but he’s always working on improving the grounds that surround it. Like adding new fountains. The most recent one is made of old mining equipment; before that Wight constructed one out of old tires.

Giant Kachina Guards Carefree Subdivision

CAREFREE – The world’s largest kachina is a 39-footer that stands guard over the Tonto Hills subdivision about several miles north of downtown Carefree. This giant Hopi legend weighs 14.5 tons and took four months to complete. E.V. Graham, the subdivision’s developer, had it built as an inducement to get his wife to move onto the property, which at that time was way out in the country.

The fountain in Fountain Hills is sometimes considered the world's largest. Photo credit: Sam Lowe

The fountain in Fountain Hills is sometimes considered the world’s tallest. Photo credit: Sam Lowe

The (Sometimes) World’s Tallest Fountain in Fountain Hills

FOUNTAIN HILLS – There’s some confusion about the World’s Tallest Fountain. What used to be the World’s Tallest Fountain in Fountain Hills has been usurped by the Gateway Geyser in East St. Louis, Illinois, but the Arizona gusher is still the World’s Tallest Fountain sometimes. The Illinois fountain shots a geyser 627 feet into the air, the best the one in Arizona can do is 560 feet, when operating at full capacity.

Mini-Planes in Prescott Featured in Guinness Book of World Records

PRESCOTT — The John W. Kalusa Miniature Aircraft Collection is a wonderful assortment of 5,829 model aircraft, all done to an exact scale of one-eighteenth of an inch to one foot. Each model is delicately painted, right down to the detailed markings characteristic of the actual aircraft. This required a steady hand because many of the planes have wingspans of less than two inches.

(Visited 1,206 times, 1 visits today)

Related Posts:

  1. Not Even A “Sometimes Tallest Fountain” In Fountain Hills Anymore
  2. The (Sometimes) World’s Tallest Fountain in Fountain Hills
  3. Arizona Hotspots & Leisure Trivia: Can You Pass?
  4. The Snow Cap Cafe: Seligman’s Funky Landmark
  5. The World’s Smallest Museum in Superior
Tagslandmarksrankings

5 comments

  1. SaraD 8 April, 2013 at 08:25 Reply

    The largest sundial in the U.S. (but not the world) is in Carefree.

    The Pollack Advertising Museum in Mesa is billed as the largest collection of 3-dimensional advertising memorabilia in the world. Whether it is that or not, it’s a very cool place that doesn’t often get much publicity locally. http://www.pollackmuseum.com/

  2. Anon 13 July, 2013 at 21:23 Reply

    The fountain hills fountain is nowhere close to the worlds tallest fountain. Simple and easily verifable research shows that the tallest fountain in the world is the King Fahd fountain in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. It’s 1,024 ft high.

    • SaraD 15 July, 2013 at 08:20 Reply

      When it was built, the Fountain Hills fountain was the tallest fountain in the world and remained so for about a decade. It is now the 4th tallest in the world, but that is still something remarkable as it uses fresh water, a very valuable commodity in the Arizona desert. By comparison, the world’s 2nd tallest, Gateway Geyser, uses fresh water, but it is water from the Missouri River. The world’s 3rd tallest fountain, KPT Fountain in Karachi, spouts sea water rather than fresh water. The King Fahd fountain, while the tallest fountain, also spouts sea water rather than fresh water. If one wished to talk about the tallest fresh water fountains, the Fountain Hills fountain would still be the 2nd tallest in the world, and it is the only one of the 4 that uses fresh water where fresh water is now in short supply.

      • kelly 7 April, 2014 at 18:42 Reply

        It also uses recycled crap water, so go scoop out as much as you need

        • SaraD 8 April, 2014 at 15:40 Reply

          Thanks for re-enforcing my point that it does not rely on sea or river water.

Leave a reply Cancel reply

Arizona Oddities Archive

Most Popular Posts

  • How to Keep Scorpions Away from Your Home
  • How to Keep Javelinas Away from Your Yard
  • What’s With All the Backyard Concrete-Block Fences…
  • Did You Know it’s Against the Law to Grow…
  • Four Deserts, One State

This Week Past Years

2019

  • 5 Facts About the Southwest’s Strangest, Smelliest Inhabitant – The Javelina

2015

  • A Beer Between the Forked Tree in Flagstaff

2014

  • Mow the Lake?

2013

  • Peach-Faced Love Birds Live in the Valley?

2012

  • Walk in the Path of Ancient Hohokam at Sears-Kay Ruin
  • Rest Stop Marks Border of Gadsden Purchase

2010

  • Why Do People Paint Citrus Tree Trunks White?
  • Elephant Feet in Northern Arizona?
  • Recent

  • Popular

  • Comments

  • Find a Famous Writer and Explorer's Mountain Retreat in Greer

    Find a Famous Writer and Explorer’s Historic Mountain Retreat in Greer

    By Taylor Haynes
    July 31, 2020
  • thousands of Mexican free tail bats make Phoenix tunnel their summer home

    Thousands of Mexican Free-Tail Bats Make Phoenix Tunnel Their Summer Home

    By Taylor Haynes
    July 17, 2020
  • How to Keep Scorpions Away from Your Home

    By Andrea Aker
    January 3, 2011
  • Javelina

    How to Keep Javelinas Away from Your Yard

    By Andrea Aker
    November 23, 2011
  • Phil Motta
    on
    August 27, 2021

    Why Does Downtown Phoenix Seem to Have Two Downtowns?

    I know this post ...
  • Carol
    on
    October 17, 2020

    The Tucson Artifacts are the Southwest’s Greatest Hoax

    lol ... these "clues" ...

Follow us

© Copyright 2009 – 2023 Aker Ink, LLC :: Arizona Oddities is published by Aker Ink.