The World’s Largest and Smallest… Funky Claims to Fame in Arizona
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.
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 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.
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/
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.
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.
It also uses recycled crap water, so go scoop out as much as you need
Thanks for re-enforcing my point that it does not rely on sea or river water.